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SCIENTIFIC  NUTRITION 
SIMPLIFIED 


SCIENTIFIC 
NUTRITION  SIMPLIFIED 


A  CONDENSED  STATEMENT  AND  EXPLANATION  FOR 

EVERYBODY  OF  THE  DISCOVERIES  OF 

CHITTENDEN,    FLETCHER, 

AND  OTHERS 

BY 

GOODWIN  BROWN,   A.M. 


FOURTH  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1908, 
By  FREDERICK  A.  STOKES  COMPANY 


ALL   RIGHTS    RESERVED 


April,  1908 


PREFACE 

rpHE  object  of  this  book  is  to  present  in 
A  concise  form  and  in  language  free 
from  technicalities  a  popular  summary  of 
the  information  necessary  for  the  practical 
application  of  the  new  principles  of  nutri- 
tion advanced  by  Mr.  Horace  Fletcher, 
Prof.  Russell  H.  Chittenden,  Prof.  Irving 
Fisher  and  other  investigators. 

Although  the  subject  has  been  most  ably 
presented  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  fore- 
most layman,  from  the  point  of  view  of  one 
of  the  highest  scientific  authorities  in  Amer- 
ica, and  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  famous 
political  economist,  it  has  not  yet  been 
treated  by  a  private  person  who  has  tested 
the  merits  of  the  system  in  his  own  life  and 
found  it  good. 

It  is  this  task  that  has  been  attempted 
here.  In  his  fifty-fourth  year,  the  origina- 
tor of  this  book  felt  that  he  was  ageing  rap- 

iii 


PREFACE 

idly,  going  painfully  down  the  wrong  side 
of  the  hill  of  life  and  giving  up  one  by  one 
all  the  pleasures  that  had  made  living  at- 
tractive to  him.  He  had  lost  his  power  to 
work,  his  enjoyment  of  social  pleasures  and 
all  his  interest  in  intellectual  pursuits.  He 
suffered  from  intense  pain  which  he  took  to 
be  muscular  rheumatism,  and,  at  times,  from 
a  mild  form  of  aphasia.  His  one  object 
was  to  get  done  with  his  necessary  work  as 
rapidly  as  possible  and  go  to  bed.  Some- 
times he  was  so  overcome  with  weakness, 
dizziness  and  fatigue  in  the  middle  of  the 
day  that  he  was  forced  to  go  to  his  club  and 
lie  down  for  an  hour  or  so  before  he  could 
go  on  with  his  work. 

To-day  he  is  in  better  health  than  he  has 
enjoyed  since  he  was  a  boy  and  feels  that — 
barring  accidents — he  should  live  to  be  a 
hundred.  For  this  he  has  to  thank  the  new 
system  of  diet  described  in  the  following 
pages. 

The  best  part  of  the  new  plan  is  that  it 
costs  nothing  to  adopt  it.  It  requires  no 
expensive  apparatus,  no  consultation  of  spe- 

iv 


PREFACE 

cialists,  no  change  of  climate,  no  release 
from  daily  work ;  it  is  a  mere  matter  of  get- 
ting and  applying  certain  easily  understood 
information. 

However,  as  a  busy  professional  man,  he 
realizes  how  difficult  it  is  for  a  man  engaged 
in  the  exacting  and  complicated  occupations 
of  modern  life  to  search  out  this  informa- 
tion through  the  various  books  in  which  it  is 
to  be  found  and  to  devise  a  method  for  ap- 
plying it.  Therefore  he  has  secured  a  digest 
of  the  points  which  he  has  found  most  valu- 
able in  working  out  his  own  problem  with 
the  idea  of  presenting  a  sort  of  lawyer's 
brief  of  the  subject. 

His  hope  is  that  the  work  will  attract  the 
attention,  not  only  of  men  and  women,  who 
in  the  prime  of  life  are  suffering — as  he  was 
himself  at  one  time — from  all  the  symptoms 
of  old  age,  but  of  the  young  men  and  women 
whose  constitutions  are  subjected  to  the 
strain  of  commercial  life;  of  the  boys  and 
girls  in  the  schools  and  colleges  whose  bodily 
forces  are  taxed  to  the  utmost  by  the  exac- 
tions of  modern  education;  and  of  the  par- 


PREFACE 

ents  and  educators  who  have  the  guidance 
of  the  lives  of  the  coming  generation.  It 
is  his  sincere  conviction  that  the  application 
of  the  principles  recommended  will  yield  an 
immense  increase  of  energy  for  daily  work 
and  will  add  many  useful  years  to  their 
lives. 


VI 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

As  the  author's  object  has  been  to  present  not  his 
own  ideas,  but  discoveries  that  bear  the  stamp  of 
authority,  he  has  introduced  no  new  theories.  He  lays 
no  claim  to  original  research,  but  has  gone  direct  to 
the  fountain-heads  and  has  expounded  in  this  book 
doctrines  expressed  fully  in  the  works  that  have  been 
of  most  help  and  guidance  to  him  personally. 

His  thanks  are  especially  due  to  Mr.  Horace 
Fletcher  for  the  ideas  and  information  contained  in 
"  The  A.  B.— Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutrition  "  and  "  The 
New  Glutton  or  Epicure/'  published  by  Frederick  A. 
Stokes  Company,  New  York;  and  to  Professor  Russell 
H.  Chittenden  for  the  use  that  has  been  made  of 
his  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition  "  and  "  The 
Nutrition  of  Man,"  issued  by  the  same  publishers. 
Acknowledgment  is  also  gratefully  made  to  Professor 
Irving  Fisher,  of  Yale,  for  the  use  of  valuable  mate- 
rial  contained  in  his  pamphlets,  magazine  articles  and 
lectures ;  to  Dr.  Hubert  Higgins,  author  of  "  Humani- 
culture " ;  to  Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby,  the  author  of 
"  Worry,  The  Disease  of  the  Age,"  and  to  Professor 
Lafayette  B.  Mendel,  of  Yale,  author  of  "  Childhood 
and  Growth."  (These  books  are  all  published  by 
Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company.) 

vii 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Those  interested  in  pursuing  further  any  particular 
topic  will  find  specific  reference  to  the  authorities 
quoted  in  this  book.  To  those  who  desire  a  more  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  the  subjects  treated  in  this 
book  and  a  more  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  new 
conception  of  diet  are  recommended  the  works  of 
Professor  Chittenden,  Mr.  Fletcher  and  Dr.  Sager. 
The  three  books  that  will  probably  be  found  most 
helpful  to  the  ordinary  reader  are: 

The  A.  B. — Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutrition,  by  Horace 
Fletcher. 

The  Nutrition  of  Man,  by  Professor  Russell  H. 
Chittenden. 

The  Art  of  Living  in  Good  Health,  by  Dr.  D.  S. 
Sager. 

As  a  busy  professional  man  the  author  has  found  it 
necessary  to  secure  the  services  of  an  experienced 
writer  in  the  preparation  of  the  manuscript.  For 
such  services  he  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to 
Frances  Maule  Bjorkman,  whose  enthusiasm  for  the 
subject  and  ability  in  writing  have  contributed  to 
make  the  book  what  it  is.  G.  Be 


vm 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 
Introductory      ..  1 

Chapter   I 18 

Topics:  Mr.  Fletcher's  discovery  and  his  quest  for 
scientific  endorsement.  The  test  of  his  claims  at 
Cambridge.  Opinions  of  Sir  Michael  Foster  and 
Dr.  Hubert  Higgins.  Observation  of  the  system  at 
Yale.  Dr.  Anderson's  report.  Professor  Chitten- 
den's experiments  on  professional  men,  soldiers, 
athletes  and  dogs.  Professor  Fisher's  experiments 
upon  students  and  upon  meat-eaters  and  vegetar- 
ians.    Summary  of  the  evidence. 

Chapter  II 56 

Topics:  Composition  of  foods.  Purposes  served  by 
the  various  food  elements.  Digestion.  Changes 
occurring  in  the  mouth.  New  discoveries  in  regard 
to  saliva.  The  effect  of  mastication  upon  the  di- 
gestive process.  Taste  and  appetite  as  stimuli  of 
the  digestive  secretions.  Other  psychic  influences 
in  digestion.  Assimilation.  Poisonous  properties  of 
the  body-waste.  Metabolism.  Quantities  of  food 
necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  physical  efficiency. 
The  old  dietary  standards.     The  new  standards. 

Chapter   III 94 

Topics:  The  principles  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  theories. 
Appetite,  true  and  false.  Taste,  the  guardian  of 
the  digestive  tract.    Nature's  Food  Filter.   The  Art 

ix 


CONTENTS 

of  Mastication.  Inutility  of  Gladstone's  rule.  In- 
hibitive  effect  of  excess  of  attention.  Influence  of 
the  mental  and  emotional  state.  Objections  to  the 
system  considered.  Results.  Testimony  of  the 
rejuvenated. 

Chapter  IV 139 

Topics:  True  food  requirements.  Reduction  of  pro- 
teid.  The  question  of  meat-eating.  Vegetable 
proteid.  Amount  of  fuel-foods  necessary.  Speci- 
men dietaries.  Tables  indicating  proteid  and  fuel 
value  of  common  foods.  The  question  of  stimulants 
and  condiments.  Physiological  value  of  sugar.  In- 
utility of  foods  as  specifics.  General  principles. 
Conclusion. 

Index 195 

List  of  Authorities 199 


SCIENTIFIC  NUTRITION 
SIMPLIFIED 


INTRODUCTORY 

TITHEREVER  one  may  look  over  the' 
*  *  civilized  world  to-day,  he  will  find  in 
progress  a  systematic  movement  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  race.  In  every  country 
the  greatest  scientists  are  giving  their  best 
efforts  to  the  study  of  the  human  organism, 
while  sociologists,  economists,  reformers  and 
philanthropists  are  laboring  by  means  of 
popular  health  movements  to  build  up  a  peo- 
ple with  strong  and  vigorous  bodies.  One 
of  the  typical  expressions  of  this  great  race 
movement  is  the  establishment  in  America  of 
the  Committee  of  One  Hundred — a  body  of 
leading  scientists,  social  workers  and  finan- 
ciers appointed  by  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  to 
work  for  the  creation  of  a  national  depart- 
ment of  public  health. 

These  numerous  and  varied  activities  have 
one  point  in  common — a  vigorous  insistence 

l 


INTRODUCTORY 

upon  the  importance  of  more  intelligent 
ways  of  feeding.  In  the  face  of  the  per- 
haps not  wholly  unwarranted  prejudice 
against  any  attempt  at  a  scientific  regula- 
tion of  diet,  laboratory  investigators  and 
social  workers  are  urging  the  members  of 
the  human  race  to  learn  to  feed  themselves 
with  at  least  as  much  wisdom  as  they  have 
used  for  years  in  the  feeding  of  their 
domestic  animals — the  physicians  and 
physiologists  declaring  that  practically  all 
functional  disorders  have  their  rise  in  faulty 
nutrition,  and  the  sociologists,  political  eco- 
nomists and  social  workers  asserting  just  as 
emphatically  that  much  of  the  poverty,  vice 
and  crime  of  the  world  is  directly  traceable 
to  errors  in  diet. 

"  We  eat  or  drink  for  health  or  ill  health," 
says  Dr.  Daniel  S.  Sager.  "  Explain  it  as 
you  will,  this  is  the  only  way  in  which  dis- 
ease can  occur  in  the  human  body.  .  .  . 
Aside  from  surgery  and  midwifery,  the 
practice  of  medicine  for  the  most  part  re- 
volves about  the  stomach.     .     .     •    While 

medical  science  has  thousands  of  names  for 

2 


INTRODUCTORY 

diseases,  at  bottom  all  diseases  are  alike. 
Poisonous  principles  are  thrown  into  the 
blood  and  the  result  is  disease.  There  are 
several  hundred  organs  and  tissues  in  the 
body,  each  one  of  which,  when  affected, 
gives  a  name  to  a  disease;  but  while  the 
names  of  diseases  are  different,  yet  the  cause 
which  produces  them  is  generally  the  same — 
overeating,  which  produces  auto-intoxica- 
tion, self -poisoning,  malassimilation,  prema- 
ture old  age  or  disease, — call  it  what  you 
will.  The  conditions  which  produce  Bright's 
disease  will  also  produce  gout,  rheumatism, 
cancer,  or  appendicitis."  1 

This  is  the  view  of  the  modern  physician. 
Professor  Irving  Fisher  of  Yale,  speaking 
as  a  political  economist,  says: 

"  Much  attention  is  now  being  paid  to  the 
physiological  condition  of  the  laboring 
classes,  their  housing,  the  sanitation  of  fac- 
tories, hours  of  labor,  child  labor,  etc. 
Equally  important  is  the  problem  of  the  nu- 
trition  of   these    classes.     Industrial   inef- 

iSager:  "The  Art  of  Living  in  Good   Health,"  pp.  8, 
168,  179. 

$ 


INTRODUCTORY 

ficiency  is  the  price  of  malnutrition.  In- 
creased labor  power  will  be  the  practical  out- 
come of  diet  reform." 2 

Out  of  this  agitation  there  has  at  last 
emerged  a  complete  new  conception  of  di- 
etetics, the  chief  recommendation  of  which  is 
that  it  gives  all  the  best  results  of  a  scientific- 
ally regulated  dietary  in  combination  with 
all  the  advantages  of  a  reliance  upon  in- 
stinctive promptings  of  taste  and  appetite. 

The  new  conception  has  been  fittingly 
named  "economic  nutrition"  because  its 
fundamental  purpose  is  to  save  the  body 
from  unnecessary  labor  through  a  reduction 
of  food  to  exact  physiological  needs. 

This,  the  originators  of  the  new  concep- 
tion point  out,  is  an  unqualified  advantage  to 
anyone,  as  every  ounce  of  food  over  and 
above  the  amount  necessary  to  furnish 
building  materials  during  growth,  to  repair 
tissue  that  has  been  broken  down  by  muscu- 
lar exercise,  and  to  supply  fuel  to  keep  the 
body  warm  and  energy  to  keep  it  running, 
places  upon  every  organ  the  thankless  task 

2  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  The  Independent,  August,  1907, 

4 


INTRODUCTORY 

of  working  over  this  excess  of  food  for  the 
sole  and  exclusive  purpose  of  getting  it  out 
of  the  way. 

The  new  theory  attacks  the  deep-rooted 
idea  in  the  mind  of  man  that  everything  he 
can  get  down  will  do  him  good  and  that  he 
will  surely  receive  a  return  for  it,  if  not  in 
increased  energy  for  work,  then  in  a  reserve 
which  he  can  call  upon  some  day  when  he 
needs  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  declares  that 
food  in  excess  of  physiological  requirements 
does  not  yield  increased  energy  for  work, 
but  actually  takes  energy  that  might  be 
given  to  work;  furthermore,  that  food  can- 
not be  stored  by  the  body  in  any  considerable 
quantity,  and  that  the  residue  which  is  left 
floating  about  in  the  blood  is  the  chief  source 
of  disease  to  the  human  organism. 

This  principle  applies  with  particular 
force  to  the  class  of  foods  which  forms  the 
great  staple  of  the  diet  of  most  of  the  civil- 
ized peoples  of  the  world:  the  tissue-build- 
ing or  "  proteid "  foods,  consumed  chiefly 
in  the  form  of  meat,  fish,  eggs,  and  in  a 
lesser  degree  in  peas,  beans,  lentils,  nuts  and 

5 


INTRODUCTORY 

cheese.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  these 
foods — unlike  the  fuel-producing  foods 
found  in  grains,  fruits,  vegetables,  butter 
and  oil — cannot  be  completely  burned  up  by 
the  body,  but  leave  behind  them  a  solid 
"  ash,"  which,  as  Dr.  Edward  Curtis  has  ex- 
pressed it,  "  must  be  raked  down  by  the  liver 
and  thrown  out  by  the  kidneys." 3 

If  you  think  of  the  body  in  the  light  of  an 
engine,  the  theory  at  once  becomes  clear. 
After  you  have  your  engine  built  you  do  not 
feed  it  on  brass  and  iron  and  copper:  you 
feed  it  on  coal.  It  is  true  that  you  have  to 
put  iron  and  steel  and  copper  into  it  now 
and  then  when  repairs  become  necessary,  but 
in  nothing  like  the  quantities  of  coal  that 
you  have  to  use  to  keep  it  running.  It  is 
obvious  that  if  you  dumped  iron  and  steel 
and  copper  into  the  furnace  in  amounts 
equal  to  or  exceeding  the  coal,  it  would  soon 
wear  out  or  break  down. 

This  is  exactly  what  the  originators  of  the 
new  theories  of  dietetics  say  happens  to  the 

s  Edward  Curtis,  M.  D.:  "Nature  and  Health,"  p.  70, 
Henry  Holt  &  Company,  New  York. 

6 


INTRODUCTORY 

human  body  when  it  is  fed  upon  building 
material  in  excess  of  fuel.  To  the  common 
practice  of  eating  more  meat  than  vegeta- 
bles they  attribute  most  of  our  ills.  Further- 
more, they  declare  that  it  is  our  excessive 
eating  of  "  high-proteid  "  foods  like  meats 
that  cuts  us  off  in  our  prime  at  seventy  or 
eighty  or  so,  when,  according  to  the  biologi- 
cal law  that  the  lifetime  of  an  animal  should 
be  from  five  to  seven  times  the  growing 
period,  he  should  live  to  be  a  hundred  at  the 
very  least. 

It  must  therefore  be  evident  that  the  new 
discovery  is  of  immense  importance  to  prac- 
tical men  and  women  with  work  to  do  in  the 
world.  Everybody  would  like  to  be  up  to 
his  or  her  best  all  the  time.  Most  of  us  ex- 
perience only  brief  spurts  of  our  maximum 
efficiency.  If  it  be  true  that  one  of  the  lead- 
ing causes,  if  not  the  leading  cause,  of  the 
sense  of  inefficiency  that  hangs  over  us  like 
a  pall,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  we  are  consum- 
ing an  excess  of  food — then  the  new  diet 
plan  supplies  us  with  at  least  one  effective 
means  of  tapping  those  "new  levels"  of 


INTRODUCTORY 

energy  that  Professor  James  speaks  of 
in  his  famous  essay,  '  The  Powers  of 
Men."4 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  be  in- 
clined to  reject  the  new  plan — for  all  its  ad- 
vantages— on  the  grounds  that  it  will  inter- 
fere with  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  it  may 
be  stated  that  the  universal  testimony  of 
those  who  have  adopted  it  is  that  they  never 
realized  what  true  enjoyment  of  food  was 
before  they  tried  it.  On  this  point  Profes- 
sor Chittenden  says : 

"  Simplicity  of  diet  does  not  diminish  but 
rather  increases  the  pleasure  of  eating, 
especially  when  daily  restriction  in  diet — in- 
dulged in  until  a  new  habit  is  formed — has 
created  a  greater  keenness  of  appetite,  since 
under  such  conditions  the  palate  takes  on  a 
new  sensitiveness,  and  manifests  a  fuller  ap- 
preciation of  the  variations  of  even  a  simple 
dietary.  There  is  therefore  no  hardship, 
nor  curtailment  of  the  pleasure  of  eating  in 
the  restriction  of  the  diet  to  the  real  needs 
of  the  body.     Neither  is  there  implied  any 

4  Professor    William    James:     "The    Powers    of    Men," 
American  Magazine,  November,  190T. 

8 


INTRODUCTORY 

cessation  of  that  kindly  hospitality  that  de- 
lights in  the  '  breaking  of  bread  '  with  one's 
friends.  With  enlightened  methods  of  liv- 
ing, on  the  other  hand,  will  come  a  truer  ap- 
preciation of  the  dignity  of  the  body,  and  a 
lessened  desire  to  manifest  one's  feelings  of 
hospitality  by  a  lavish  intemperance  that  is 
as  unphysiological  as  it  is  wasteful."  5 

To  those  who  are  timid  about  adopting  it 
because  their  "  doctors  told  them  it  was  dan- 
gerous to  cut  down  the  food  that  makes 
muscle,"  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  no  one 
— doctor  or  not — who  has  not  made  an  ex- 
haustive study  of  the  subject  with  the  same 
thoroughness  or  the  same  facilities  as  its 
originators  is  qualified  to  give  an  authorita- 
tive opinion  regarding  it.  The  theory  is  an 
advance  over  old  ways  of  thinking  and  can- 
not, therefore,  be  tested  by  any  but  the  most 
advanced  ideas. 

Everyone  will  concede  that  there  is  a  limit 
to  the  quantity  of  food  that  can  be  consumed 
with  advantage.  For  example,  everyone 
will  concede  that  ten  pounds  a  day  is  too 
much — or  nine  pounds,  or  eight  pounds,  and 

5  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p.  472, 

9 


INTRODUCTORY 

so  on  down ;  but  in  the  descending  scale  there 
comes  a  point  where  a  doubt  as  to  the  suf- 
ficiency of  the  amount  will  be  justified. 
That  this  point,  below  which  it  is  dangerous 
to  reduce  the  consumption  of  food,  can  be 
determined  by  science,  will  hardly  be  dis- 
puted. Every  investigation  of  the  subject 
has  endeavored  to  fix  it.  In  the  generally 
accepted  "  diet  standards,"  the  minimum 
quantities  of  food  commonly  consumed  by 
man  have  been  accepted  as  the  minimum 
quantities  required. 

"  Within  certain  rather  wide  limits,"  says 
Professor  Chittenden,  "  there  is  an  appar- 
ent tendency  for  people  of  different  na- 
tions, having  a  free  choice  of  food  and  not 
restricted  by  expense,  to  consume  daily  ap- 
proximately the  same  amounts  of  nutri- 
ments; to  use  what  may  be  called  liberal 
rather  than  small  amounts  of  food;  and 
lastly,  to  consume  food  somewhat  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  work  done.  It  is 
perhaps,  therefore,  not  strange  that  stu- 
dents of  nutrition  should  have  taken  these 
results,  obtained  by  the  statistical  method, 

10 


INTRODUCTORY 

as  indicating  the  actual  needs  of  the  body 
for  food,  and  that  so-called  'standard 
diets  '  and  '  normal  diets  '  should  have  been 
constructed,  based  upon  these  and  cor- 
responding data.  .  .  .  These  standards 
covering  the  quantities  of  food  per  day  '  are 
intended  to  show  the  actual  food  require- 
ments of  persons  under  different  conditions 
of  life  and  work.'  Here,  however,  lies  an 
assumption  which  seems  to  meet  with  wide 
acceptance,  but  for  which  it  is  difficult  to 
conceive  any  logical  reason.  The  thousands 
of  dietary  studies  made  on  peoples  all  over 
the  world,  affording  more  or  less  accurate 
information  regarding  the  average  amounts 
of  proteid,  fat,  and  carbohydrate  consumed 
under  varying  conditions,  are  indeed  most 
interesting  and  important,  as  affording  in- 
formation regarding  dietetic  customs  and 
habits ;  but  the  writer  fails  to  see  any  reason 
why  such  data  need  be  assumed  to  throw  any 
light  on  the  actual  food  requirements  of  the 
body.  In  the  words  of  another,  'Food 
should  be  ingested  in  just  the  proper  amount 

to  repair  the  waste  of  the  body ;  to  furnish  it 

11 


INTRODUCTORY 

with  the  energy  it  needs  for  work  and 
warmth ;  to  maintain  it  in  vigor ;  and,  in  the 
case  of  immature  animals,  to  provide  the 
proper  excess  for  normal  growth,  in  order 
to  be  of  the  most  advantage  to  the  body.' 
(Benedict.)  Any  habitual  excess  of  food, 
over  and  above  what  is  really  needed  to  meet 
the  actual  wants  of  the  body,  is  not  only  un- 
economical, but  may  be  distinctly  disadvan- 
tageous. .  .  .  With  these  thoughts  in 
mind,  may  we  not  reasonably  ask  why  it 
should  be  assumed  that  there  is  any  tangi- 
ble connection  between  the  dietetic  habits  of 
a  people  and  their  true  physiological  needs? 
Arguments  predicated  on  custom,  habit,  and 
usage  have  no  physiological  basis  that  ap- 
peals strongly  to  the  impartial  observer. 
Man  is  a  creature  of  habits;  he  is  quick  to 
acquire  new  ones  when  his  environment 
affords  the  opportunity,  and  he  is  prone  to 
cling  to  old  ones  when  they  minister  to  his 
sense  of  taste.  The  argument  that  because 
the  people  of  a  country,  constituting  a  given 
class,  eat  a  certain  amount  of  proteid  food 
daily,  the  quantity  so  consumed  must  be  an 

12 


INTRODUCTORY 

indication  of  the  amount  needed  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  the  body,  is  as  faulty  as  the 
argument  that  because  people  of  a  given 
community  are  in  the  habit  of  consuming  a 
certain  amount  of  wine  each  day  at  dinner 
their  bodies  must  necessarily  be  in  need  of 
the  stimulant,  and  that  consequently  alcohol 
is  a  true  physiological  requirement."  6 

Accordingly,  Professor  Chittenden,  actu- 
ated by  his  belief  that  what  a  man  eats  is  no 
guide  to  what  he  should  eat,  has  shown  by 
a  series  of  elaborate  experiments,  extending 
over  long  periods  of  time,  that  persons  of 
widely  varying  habits  of  life  temperament, 
and  constitution,  can  maintain,  and  even 
heighten  their  mental  and  physical  vigor,  on 
far  smaller  quantities  of  food  than  these 
"  minimum  requirements  "  of  the  diet  stand- 
ards. Since  the  point  to  be  determined  is 
the  quantities  of  food  men  can  live  on,  not 
what  they  do  live  on,  it  appears  safe  to  as- 
sume that  Professor  Chittenden  has  come 
nearer  than  anyone  else  to  determining  the 
minimum  food  requirements  of  man. 

«  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  157-159. 
13 


INTRODUCTORY 

Secondly,  everyone  must  concede  that  it  is 
possible  for  science  to  ascertain  the  mini- 
mum requirement  of  man  for  proteid  food, 
and  also  to  ascertain  whether  the  quantities 
of  proteid  in  excess  of  this  amount  are  of  ad- 
vantage or  of  disadvantage  to  the  body.  So 
far  no  one  has  been  able  to  refute  Professor 
Chittenden's  conclusion,  drawn  from  his 
elaborate  experiments,  that  the  quantities  of 
proteid  consumed  by  the  average  man  are 
far  in  excess  of  the  quantities  assimilated, 
and  that  the  excess  of  proteid  not  assimi- 
lated is  of  unqualified  disadvantage  to  the 
body. 

>  Thirdly,  everyone  will  concede  that  it  is 
possible  for  science  to  determine  whether  or 
not  the  complete  mastication  advocated  by 
Horace  Fletcher  is  of  any  specific  value 
to  the  nutritive  processes.  So  far  all  the 
scientists  who  have  investigated  the  matter 
have  been  convinced  that  it  is.  The  remarks 
of  Elie  Metchnikoff  in  his  book,  "  The  Pro- 
longation of  Life,"  which  have  been  taken 
by  some  persons  as  a  scientific  refutation  of 
the  claims  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  theory,  are  of 

14 


INTRODUCTORY 

an  extremely  casual  nature,  and  are  Based, 
not  upon  extensive  investigations  such  as 
will  be  described  in  this  book,  but  upon  the 
statements  of  a  single  physician,  who,  in  a 
small  pamphlet,  has  published  an  account  of 
his  observations  upon  two  persons  suffering 
from  an  intestinal  disease  which  he  attrib- 
uted to  the  fact  that  they  gave  an  unusual 
amount  of  care  to  the  mastication  of  their 
food.  The  remarks  in  question  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  The  habit  of  eating  quickly  favors  the 
multiplication  of  microbes  around  about  the 
lumps  of  food  which  have  been  swallowed 
without  sufficient  mastication.  It  is  quite 
harmful,  however,  to  chew  the  food  too  long, 
and  to  swallow  it  only  after  it  has  been  kept 
in  the  mouth  for  a  considerable  time.  Too 
complete  a  use  of  the  food  material  causes 
want  of  tone  in  the  intestinal  wall,  from 
which  as  much  harm  may  come  as  from  im- 
perfect mastication.  In  America,  where 
Fletcher's  theory  took  its  origin,  there  has 
already  been  described,  under  the  name  of 
'Bradyfagy,'   a   disease   arising   from   the 

15 


INTRODUCTORY 

habit  of  eating  too  slowly.  Einhorn,  a  well- 
known  specialist  in  the  diseases  of  the  diges- 
tive system,  has  found  that  several  cases  of 
this  disease  were  rapidly  cured  when  the  pa- 
tients made  up  their  minds  to  eat  more 
quickly  again.  Comparative  physiology 
supplies  us  with  arguments  against  too 
prolonged  mastication.  Ruminants,  which 
carry  out  to  the  fullest  extent  Mr.  Fletch- 
er's plan,  are  notable  for  extreme  intestinal 
putrefaction  and  for  the  short  duration  of 
their  lives.  On  the  other  hand,  birds  and  rep- 
tiles, which  have  a  very  poor  mechanism  for 
breaking  up  food,  enjoy  much  longer  lives."7 
Mr.  Fletcher  himself  has  pointed  out  that 
there  is  danger  in  carrying  the  practice  of 
mastication  to  extremes.  Once  the  swallow- 
ing impulse  has  asserted  itself,  he  says,  there 
is  no  advantage  in  and  there  may  be  direct 
injury  from  attempting  to  hold  the  food  in 
the  mouth,  even  if  it  has  not  been  reduced 
quite  to  the  point  of  complete  liquefaction 
and  tastelessness. 

7  Metchnikoff :  "  The  Prolongation  of  Life."    G.  P.  Put- 
nam's Sons,  New  York. 

16 


INTRODUCTORY 

MetchnikofF's  statement  that  the  rumi- 
nants are  notable  for  intestinal  putrefaction 
and  shortness  of  life  is  at  least  open  to  ques- 
tion. The  experiments  of  Dr.  C.  A.  Herter 
with  animals  of  all  classes  indicate  that, 
while  the  bacteria  in  the  intestines  of  the 
fast-eating  animals  (such  as  cats,  dogs,  lions, 
tigers  and  wolves)  are  of  a  deadly  character, 
the  bacteria  in  the  intestines  of  the  slow 
eaters  (such  as  buffaloes,  goats,  horses  and 
elephants)  are  practically  harmless.8  And 
while  it  may  be  true  that  the  lives  of  birds 
and  reptiles  are  longer  than  those  of  rumi- 
nating animals,  it  has  yet  to  be  proved  that 
the  lives  of  fast-eating  animals  are  longer 
than  those  of  the  ruminants. 

The  practical  experience  of  everyone  who 
has  adopted  the  new  plan  supplies  ample 
evidence  that  it  is  productive  of  only  the  best 
possible  results.  We  have  now  to  see  that 
the  reason  it  produces  these  good  results  is 
because  it  rests  on  a  firm  basis  of  scientific 
truth. 

s  C.  A.  Herter,  M.  D.:  "  Character  of  the  Bacterial  Flora 
of  Carnivorous  and  Herbivorous  Animals,"  Science,  p.  859, 
December  28,  1906. 

17 


CHAPTER   I 

Topics:  Mr.  Fletcher's  discovery  and  his  quest  for 
scientific  endorsement.  The  test  of  his  claims  at 
Cambridge.  Opinions  of  Sir  Michael  Foster  and 
Dr.  Hubert  Higgins.  Observation  of  the  system  at 
Yale.  Dr.  Anderson's  report.  Professor  Chitten- 
den's experiments  on  professional  men,  soldiers, 
athletes  and  dogs.  Professor  Fisher's  experiments 
upon  students  and  upon  meat-eaters  and  vegeta- 
rians.    Summary  of  the  evidence. 

I"  IKE  many  another  discovery  of  the 
■*-^  highest  value  to  science,  the  principles 
of  the  new  conception  of  dietetics  set  forth 
in  this  book  were  hit  upon  by  accident  and 
applied  in  everyday  life  before  they  were 
worked  out  in  theory;  and,  like  many  an- 
other great  discovery,  they  had  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  popular  ridicule  before  they  were 
stamped  with  the  seal  of  scientific  recogni- 
tion. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  mention  of  the 
word  "  Fletcherism  "  was  enough  to  provoke 
a  laugh.  A  mere  American  business  man, 
without  any  scientific  authority  whatever, 

18 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

was  declaring  from  the  housetops  that  he 
had  stumbled  upon  a  great  truth  in  regard 
to  human  nutrition  that  the  authorities  on 
dietetics  had  overlooked.  His  contention 
was  based  on  the  fact  that  by  chewing  both 
his  solid  and  liquid  food  until,  literally,  there 
was  nothing  left  of  it,  he  had  cured  himself 
of  a  complication  of  diseases  and  made  him- 
self eligible  for  life  insurance,  although  only 
a  short  time  before  he  had  been  rejected  as 
an  unsafe  risk. 

He  asserted  that  the  practice  of  thorough 
mastication  had  revealed  to  him  that  one-half 
the  quantities  of  food  consumed  by  the  aver- 
age man  was  more  than  enough  to  meet  all 
true  bodily  needs ;  and  that  when  the  faculty 
of  taste  was  given  a  chance  to  pass  on  every- 
thing taken  into  the  mouth,  the  appetite  was 
not  only  satisfied  with  much  smaller  quanti- 
ties, but  that  it  indicated  a  preference  for 
vegetable  rather  than  animal  food  and 
tended  to  reject  alcoholic  liquors,  tea,  coffee, 
and  most  condiments. 

Although  a  member  of  some  of  the  most 
famous  clubs  in  the  country  and  a  social  f a- 

19 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

vorite  in  San  Francisco,  New  Orleans,  Chi- 
cago, New  York,  and  generally  throughout 
America,  Mr.  Fletcher  suddenly  found  him- 
self an  object  of  ridicule.  He  and  his  chew- 
ing-cult were  made  the  subjects  for  endless 
humorous  newspaper  paragraphs.  He  was 
cartooned  and  lampooned  from  one  end  of 
the  country  to  the  other.  Some  of  his 
friends,  shocked  and  offended  at  seeing  a 
man  they  knew  rapidly  becoming  a  national 
joke,  actually  cut  his  acquaintance. 

Nothing  daunted,  however,  Mr.  Fletcher 
went  serenely  on  his  way,  talking  his  discov- 
ery whenever  and  wherever  he  could  get  any- 
one to  listen,  and  finally  hurling  defiance  in 
the  faces  of  his  critics  by  writing  a  pamphlet 
on  the  subject,  which  is  now  incorporated  in 
his  book,  "  The  New  Glutton  or  Epicure."  1 
His  method  of  eating  as  set  forth  in  this  vol- 
ume may  be  briefly  summarized  as  fol- 
lows: 

Eat  only  when  there  is  a  vigorous  appe- 
tite, expressed,  not  in  a  gnawing  of  the  stom- 
ach— never  pay  any  attention  to  that — but 

i  Fletcher:  "  The  New  Glutton  or  Epicure." 
20 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

in  a  watering  of  the  mouth.  If  there  is  no 
appetite,  wait — even  if  you  have  to  omit  a 
few  meals. 

Never  eat  when  you  are  hurried.  If  you 
haven't  time  to  give  full  attention  to  the 
taste  of  a  meal,  don't  eat  until  you  can  get 
time. 

Never  eat  when  you  are  worried,  angry, 
exhausted  or  unhappy.  It  is  better  to  go 
without  food  for  a  week  than  to  eat  when 
the  negative  emotions  have  you  in  their 
grip. 

Masticate  all  food,  liquid  as  well  as  solid, 
until  it  is  sucked  down  into  the  throat  by  an 
involuntary  swallowing  impulse,  giving  at- 
tention, not  to  the  mechanical  movements  of 
chewing,  but  to  the  sensations  of  taste  pro- 
voked thereby. 

Remove  from  the  mouth  the  tasteless  resi- 
due. It  can  be  done  without  observation, 
and  it  is  better  to  risk  criticism  than  to  make 
a  waste  basket  of  the  stomach. 

The  result  of  this  practice  of  eating,  Mr. 
Fletcher  declared,  was  a  utilization  of  food 
so  complete  as  practically  to  do  away  with 

21 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

the  decomposing  waste  products  of  the  body 
and  to  leave  nothing  to  the  organs  of  excre- 
tion but  an  inoffensive  deposit  of  cellulose 
and  other  dry,  unabsorbable  material. 

The  first  recognition  of  his  theory  which 
Mr.  Fletcher  received  from  the  scientific 
world  came  from  a  brief  review  of  this  book 
in  the  London  Lancet ,  in  which  the  au- 
thor, Dr.  Joseph  Blumfield,  intimated  that 
Mr.  Fletcher  had  apparently  stumbled  upon 
some  physiological  truths  that  had  been  over- 
looked by  the  experts  and  that  might  be  well 
worth  their  while  to  look  into. 

This  gave  Mr.  Fletcher  a  new  idea.  It 
was  to  get  the  endorsement  of  science  for  his 
discovery — and  he  started  out  seeking  for 
authorities  forthwith. 

Dr.  Ernest  Van  Someren,  an  English 
physician,  was  the  first  member  of  the  medi- 
cal profession  whom  he  succeeded  in  per- 
suading to  test  his  claims  for  the  practice  of 
what  he  called  "  physiologic  mastication." 
Dr.  Van  Someren,  who  had  long  been  a  suf- 
ferer from  a  case  of  gout  which  had  refused 
to  yield  to  the  treatment  of  a  London  spe- 

22 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

cialist,  adopted  Mr.  Fletcher's  plan  of  pro- 
longing the  mouth  treatment  of  food,  both 
liquid  and  solid,  until  its  taste  had  been  ex- 
tracted and  it  was  sucked  down  into  the 
throat  by  the  "  involuntary  swallowing  im- 
pulse," and,  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks, 
his  symptoms  began  to  disappear. 

His  conversion  was  complete.  He  ini- 
tiated a  series  of  experiments  upon  his  own 
account  and  set  forth  the  results  in  a  paper 
which  he  presented  first  to  the  British  Med- 
ical Society,  and  later,  more  elaborately, 
before  the  International  Congress  of  Physi- 
ologists at  Turin,  Italy,  in  1901.2 

The  paper  created  a  sensation  among  the 
physiologists,  and  brought  Mr.  Fletcher  and 
Dr.  Van  Someren  an  invitation  from  Sir 
Michael  Foster  to  visit  Cambridge  Univer- 
sity in  England  and  submit  their  theory  to 
scientific  tests  at  the  hands  of  Dr.  F.  Gow- 
land  Hopkins  and  the  other  physiological 
experts  in  the  Cambridge  laboratories. 

These  experiments  brought  the  subject 

2  For  this  paper  see,  "  The  A.  B.— Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutri- 
tion," pp.  27-46. 

23 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

definitely  and  permanently  before  the  scien- 
tific world.  Dr.  Hubert  Higgins,  demon- 
strator of  anatomy  at  the  University,  after 
trying  the  system  recommended  by  Mr. 
Fletcher  and  Dr.  Van  Someren  upon  him- 
self, and  thereby  reducing  his  weight  from 
two  hundred  and  eighty-two  to  one  hundred 
and  ninety-six  pounds,  became  so  enthusias- 
tic that  he  wrote  a  book  on  the  subject  to 
prove,  on  grounds  of  pure  science,  that  the 
practice  of  "  physiologic  mastication  "  would 
contribute  largely  to  the  complete  regenera- 
tion of  the  human  race.3  Sir  Michael  Foster, 
permanent  honorary  president  of  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Physiologists,  pub- 
lished a  "  Note  "  in  which  he  declared  that 
the  observations  upon  Mr.  Fletcher  and  Dr. 
Van  Someren  established  beyond  all  question 
that  a  full  and  careful  study  of  their  conten- 
tion was  urgently  called  for. 

"  In  the  two  individuals  who  pushed  the 
method  to  its  limits,"  wrote  Sir  Michael  Fos- 
ter, "  it  was  found  that  complete  bodily 
efficiency  was  maintained  for  some  weeks 

3  Dr.  Hubert  Higgins:  "  Humaniculture." 
24 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

upon  a  dietary  which  had  a  total  energy 
value  of  one-half  that  usually  taken,  and 
comprised  little  more  than  one-third  of  the 
proteid  consumed  by  the  average  man. 
.  .  .  The  scientific  and  social  importance 
of  the  question  is  clearly  immense,  and  it  is 
greatly  to  be  desired  that  its  study  should 
be  encouraged." 4 

The  reports  of  the  Cambridge  experi- 
ments aroused  the  interest  of  Dr.  Henry  P. 
Bowditch  of  Boston,  and,  through  him,  of 
Prof.  Russell  H.  Chittenden,  President  of 
the  American  Physiological  Society,  Direc- 
tor of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  at  Yale, 
and  one  of  the  leading  physiological  chem- 
ists of  the  world.  Professor  Chittenden 
invited  Mr.  Fletcher  to  come  to  Yale  and 
submit  himself  to  further  observation  in 
order  that  the  scientists  of  America  might 
investigate  the  claims  of  the  new  theory. 

The  story  of  how  Mr.  Fletcher  went  to 
Yale,  and,  on  a  diet  of  breakfast  food,  milk 

4  For  full  text  see  "  The  A.  B.— Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutri- 
tion," pp.  48-52 ;  or  "  The  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp. 
18-24. 

25 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

and  maple  sugar,  beat  the  records  of  some 
of  the  best  athletes  in  the  University,  has 
already  been  made  familiar  to  the  people  of 
this  country  by  the  newspapers.  However, 
in  order  that  the  tale  may  bear  the  weight  of 
scientific  authority,  it  may  be  well  to  give 
here  the  official  report  of  the  endurance  tests 
written  by  Dr.  W.  G.  Anderson,  director  of 
the  Yale  gymnasium. 

"  I  gave  to  Mr.  Horace  Fletcher  the  same 
kind  of  exercises  we  give  to  the  varsity 
crew,"  wrote  Dr.  Anderson.  "  They  are 
drastic  and  fatiguing  and  cannot  be  done  by 
beginners  without  soreness  and  pain  result- 
ing. The  exercises  he  was  asked  to  take 
were  of  a  character  to  tax  the  heart  and 
lungs,  as  well  as  to  try  the  muscles  of  the 
limbs  and  trunk.  I  should  not  give  these 
exercises  to  freshmen  on  account  of  their 
severity. 

"  Mr.  Fletcher  has  taken  these  movements 
with  an  ease  that  is  unlooked  for.  He  gives 
evidence  of  no  soreness  or  lameness,  and  the 
large  groups  of  muscles  respond  the  second 
day  without  evidence  of  distress  after  or 

26 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

during  the  endurance  test,  that  is,  the  long 
run.  The  heart  is  fast  but  regular.  It 
comes  back  to  its  normal  beat  quicker  than 
does  the  hearts  of  other  men  of  his  weight 
and  age. 

"  The  case  is  unusual,  and  I  am  surprised 
that  Mr.  Fletcher  can  do  the  work  of  trained 
athletes  and  not  give  marked  evidences  of 
overexertion.  My  conclusion,  given  in  con- 
densed form,  is  this:  Mr.  Fletcher  per- 
forms this  work  with  greater  ease  and  with 
fewer  noticeable  bad  results  than  any  man 
of  his  age  and  condition  I  have  ever  worked 
with." 5 

In  making  these  tests  the  investigators 
took  care  to  assure  themselves  that  Mr. 
Fletcher's  records  were  not  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  he  had  been  an  athlete  in  his 
youth,  or  on  the  grounds  that  he  was  a  soma- 
tic freak  of  abnormal  muscle  development. 
Other  men  who  had  been  practicing  his  sys- 
tem of  eating  were  subjected  to  the  same 
tests  and  it  was  found  that  they  surpassed 
Mr.  Fletcher  in  just  so  far  as  they  had  a 

e  "  The  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  32-33. 
27 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

natural  advantage  over  him  in  youth  or  phys- 
ical training. 

The  tests  convinced  Professor  Chittenden 
that  the  amounts  of  food  ordinarily  con- 
sumed— particularly  of  the  food  known  as 
"  proteid,"  which  is  eaten  chiefly  in  the  form 
of  meat — were  far  in  excess  of  the  real  needs 
of  the  body.  Therefore  he  initiated  a  series 
of  experiments  upon  men  of  widely  differ- 
ing dietary  habits,  activities,  temperaments, 
and  physical  condition,  extending  over  a 
long  period  of  time,  with  the  purpose  of  de- 
termining what  was  the  minimum  of  food — 
particularly  proteid  food — upon  which  the 
average  person  can  maintain  himself  in  phys- 
ical and  mental  vigor. 

The  subjects  of  the  first  experiment  were 
Professor  Chittenden  himself;  Dr.  Lafay- 
ette B.  Mendel  and  Dr.  Frank  P.  Underhill, 
two  other  physiological  chemists  in  the  Shef- 
field Scientific  School;  Dr.  Arthur  L.  Dean, 
instructor  in  plant  physiology  in  the  same 
institution,  and  Mr.  George  M.  Beers,  a 
clerk  in  the  treasurer's  office. 

While  the  work  of  these  men  was  chiefly 

28 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

mental,  they  could  hardly  be  classified 
strictly  as  sedentary,  because — with  the  ex- 
ception of  Mr.  Beers — they  all  had  to  be 
on  their  feet  and  moving  about  in  their 
laboratories  for  the  greater  part  of  every 
day. 

As  Professor  Chittenden's  purpose  was 
not  to  test  the  merits  of  Mr.  Fletcher's 
claims  for  the  benefits  of  mastication,  but  to 
ascertain  the  exact  physiological  require- 
ments of  man  for  food  in  general  and  pro- 
teid  food  in  particular  without  introducing 
any  conditions,  he  did  not  require  his  sub- 
jects to  masticate  their  food  with  any  un- 
usual degree  of  care.  The  only  change  he 
made  in  their  accustomed  dietaries  was  pre- 
scriptively  to  reduce  the  amount  of  meat 
and  other  proteid  food  about  one-half. 
During  the  six  months  that  the  subjects  were 
under  observation  their  weight  remained  sta- 
tionary, they  improved  in  general  health  and 
experienced  a  quite  remarkable  increase  of 
mental  clearness  and  energy.  Furthermore, 
the  laboratory  tests  revealed  the  fact  that  the 
composition  and  general  character  of  the 

29 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

blood  remained  unimpaired  and  that  the  sys- 
tems were  in  "  nitrogenous  equilibrium  " — 
which  means  that  the  men  were  not  paying 
out  more  than  they  were  taking  in,  a  condi- 
tion of  prime  importance  to  the  maintenance 
of  health. 

To  meet  the  objection  that  the  new  diet 
theory,  while  meeting  fully  the  requirements 
of  persons  of  dainty  dietary  habits  and  high 
intellectual  development,  might  fail  to  sat- 
isfy men  of  a  more  material  mould,  Profes- 
sor Chittenden  used  for  his  next  experiment 
a  detachment  of  twenty  soldiers,  volunteers 
from  the  hospital  corps  of  the  United  States 
Army,  only  thirteen  of  whom,  however, 
really  took  part  as  subjects.  For  six 
months  these  men  were  quartered  in  a  build- 
ing near  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  at 
New  Haven  under  command  of  Dr.  Wallace 
De  Witt,  First  Lieutenant  and  Assistant 
Surgeon  of  the  United  States  Army,  and 
subject  to  constant  surveillance  of  the  com- 
manding officer  and  the  non-commissioned 
officers. 

"  They  represented,"  says  Professor  Chit- 

30 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

tenden,  "  a  great  variety  of  types :  of  differ- 
ent ages,  nationalities,  temperaments,  and 
degrees  of  intelligence.  They  were  men  ac- 
customed to  living  an  active  life  under  vary- 
ing conditions,  and  they  naturally  had  great 
liking  for  the  pleasures  of  eating.  Further, 
it  should  be  remembered  that,  although  the 
men  had  volunteered  for  the  experiment, 
they  had  no  personal  interest  whatever  in  the 
principles  involved,  and  it  could  not  be  ex- 
pected that  they  would  willingly  incommode 
themselves,  or  suffer  any  great  amount  of 
personal  inconvenience.  Again,  there  were 
necessary  restrictions  placed  upon  their 
movements,  when  relieved  from  duty,  which 
constituted  something  of  a  hardship  in  the 
minds  of  many  of  the  men  and  added  to  the 
irksomeness  and  monotony  of  their  daily  life. 
Regularity  of  life  was  insisted  upon,  and  this 
was  a  condition  which  brought  to  some  of  the 
men  a  new  experience.  These  facts  are 
mentioned  because  their  recital  will  help  to 
make  clear  that,  from  the  standpoint  of  the 
men,  there  were  certain  depressing  influences 
connected  with  the  experiment  which  would 

31 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

add  to  any  personal  discomfort  caused  by 
restriction  of  diet. 

'  The  ordinary  army  ration  to  which  these 
men  were  accustomed  was  rich  in  proteid, 
especially  in  meat,  and  during  the  first  few 
days  they  were  allowed  to  follow  their  usual 
dietary  habits,  in  order  that  data  might  be 
obtained  bearing  on  their  average  food  con- 
sumption. The  details  of  one  day's  food  in- 
take will  suffice  to  show  the  average  charac- 
ter and  amount  of  the  food  eaten  per  man : 

Breakfast — Beefsteak  222  grams  (7£  oz.),  gravy  68  grams 
(2£  oz.),  fried  potatoes  234  grams  (7§  oz.),  onion  34 
grams  (1  oz.),  bread  144  grams  (4§  oz.),  coffee  679  grams 
(22f  oz.),  sugar  18  grams  (f  oz.) 

Dinner — Beef  171  grams  (5f  oz.),  boiled  potatoes  350 
grams  (11§  oz.),  onions  55  grams  (2  oz.),  bread  234  grams 
(7|  oz.),  coffee  916  grams  (30J  oz.),  sugar  27  grams 
(1  oz.) 

Supper — Corned  beef  195  grams  (6$  oz.),  potatoes  170 
grams,  (5§  oz.),  bread  158  grams  (7§  oz.),  fruit  jelly 
107  grams  (3$  oz.),  coffee  450  grams  (15  oz.),  sugar  21 
grams  (§  oz.) 

"  It  is  not  necessary  to  comment  upon  the 
large  proportion  of  proteid  matter  in  the 
day's  ration ;  the  three  large  portions  of  meat 

32 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

testify  clearly  enough  to  that  fact,  while  the 
three  equally  large  volumes  of  coffee  indi- 
cate a  natural  disposition  toward  generous 
consumption  of  anything  available.  Habit, 
reinforced  by  inclination,  has  evidently 
placed  these  men  on  a  high  plane  of  food 
consumption. 

"  For  a  period  of  six  months,  a  daily  diet- 
ary was  prescribed  for  the  subjects ;  the  food 
for  each  meal  and  for  every  man  being  of 
known  composition,  each  article  being  care- 
fully weighed,  while  the  content  of  nitrogen 
in  the  day's  ration  was  so  graded  as  to  bring 
about  a  gradual  reduction  in  the  amount 
of  proteid  ingested.  The  rate  of  proteid 
katabolism  [breaking  down,  opposed  to 
anabolism,  or  building  up]  was  likewise  de- 
termined each  day  by  careful  estimation  of 
the  excreted  nitrogen,  balance  experiments 
being  made  from  time  to  time  in  order  to 
ascertain  if  the  men  were  in  a  condition  of 
nitrogen  equilibrium.  Finally,  it  should  be 
mentioned  that  the  subjects  lived  a  fairly 
active  life,  having  each  day  a  certain  amount 
of  prescribed  exercise  in  the  university  gym- 

33 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

nasium,  in  addition  to  the  regular  drill  and 
other  duties  associated  with  their  usual  work. 
"As  just  stated,  the  amount  of  proteid 
food  was  gradually  reduced,  three  weeks 
being  taken  to  bring  the  amount  down  to  a 
level  somewhat  commensurate  with  the  esti- 
mated needs  of  the  body.  This  naturally  re- 
sulted in  diminishing  largely  the  intake  of 
meat,  though  by  no  means  excluding  it. 
Effort  was  constantly  made  to  introduce  as 
much  variety  as  was  possible  with  simple 
foods,  though  the  main  problem  with  this 
group  of  men  was  to  keep  the  volume  of  the 
food  up  to  such  a  point  as  would  dispel  any 
notion  that  they  were  not  having  enough  to 
eat.  A  second  problem,  which  at  first  threat- 
ened trouble,  was  the  fear  of  the  men,  as  they 
saw  the  proportion  of  meat  gradually  drop 
off,  that  they  were  destined  to  lose  their 
strength;  but,  fortunately,  they  very  soon 
began  to  realize  that  their  fears  in  this  direc- 
tion were  groundless,  and  a  little  later  their 
personal  experience  opened  their  eyes  to  pos- 
sible advantages  which  quickly  drove  away 
all  further  thought  of  danger,  and  made 

34 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

them  quite  content  to  continue  the  experi- 
ment." 6 

The  following  is  a  sample  of  the  daily 
meals  given  to  the  men  after  the  first  month 
when  the  amount  of  their  proteid  food  had 
been  reduced : 

APRIL  1 

Breakfast — Fried  hominy  150  grams  (5  oz.),  syrup  75 
grams  (2£  oz.),  butter  20  grams  (f  oz.),  one  cup  coffee 
350  grams  (llf  oz.) 

Dinner — Baked  spaghetti  200  grams  (6§  oz.),  mashed  po- 
tato 250  grams  (8£  oz.),  boiled  turnip  150  grams  (5  oz.), 
bread  10  grams  (J  oz.),  apple  sauce  200  grams  (6§  oz.), 
one  cup  coffee  350  grams  (llf  oz.) 

Supper — Fried  bacon  (f  oz.),  fried  sweet  potato  200  grams 
(6§  oz.),  bread  35  grams  (1£  oz.),  butter  20  grams  (f  oz.), 
jam  100  grams  (3£  oz.),  apple-tapioca  pudding  300  grams 
(10  oz.),  one  cup  tea  350  grams  (llf  oz.) 

Total  nitrogen  content  of  the  day's  food  7,342  grams. 

From  this  sample  meal  it  will  he  seen  that 
during  the  last  five  months  of  the  experiment 
the  men  were  living  on  about  one-third  of  the 
proteid  food  to  which  they  were  accustomed. 

"  If,"  says  Professor  Chittenden,  "  the 
relatively   small   amount   of   proteid   food 

e  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  193-197. 
85 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

made  use  of  in  this  trial  was  inadequate  for 
the  real  necessities  of  the  body,  some  indica- 
tion of  it  would  be  expected  to  reveal  itself, 
with  at  least  some  of  the  men,  by  the  end  of 
the  period.  One  criticism  frequently  made 
is  that  the  subject  draws  in  some  measure 
upon  his  store  of  body  material.  Should 
this  be  the  case,  it  is  evident  that  the  body- 
weight — in  a  such  a  long  experiment  as  this 
— will  gradually  but  surely  diminish.  Fur- 
ther, the  subject  will  show  a  minus  nitrogen 
balance,  i.  e.,  there  will  be  a  constant  tend- 
ency for  the  body  to  give  off  more  nitrogen 
than  it  takes  in.  As  bearing  on  the  first 
point,  the  following  table  showing  the  body- 
weights  of  the  men  at  the  commencement  of 
the  experiment  in  October,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  experiment  in  April,  will  be  of  in- 
terest : 

Table  of  Body- Weights. 

October,  1903  April,  1904 

kilos  pounds  kilos  pounds 

Steltz    52.3  115.27  53.0  116.81 

Zooman  54.0  119.01  55.0  121.22 

Coffman 59.1  130.25  58.0  127.83 

Morris    59.2  130.47  59.0  130.03 

Broyles   59.4  130.91  61.0  134.44 

36 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

October,  1903  April,   1904. 

kilos         pounds  kilos         pounds 

Loewenthal   ...60.1  132.46  59.0  130.03 

Sliney  61.3  135.10  60.6  133.56 

Cohn 65.0  143.26  62.6  137.97 

Oakman   66.7  147.00  62.1  136.86 

Henderson  ....71.3  157.14  71.0  156.48 

Fritz  76.0  167.50  72.6  160.01 

Bates  72.7  160.23  64.3  141.71(Feb.) 

Davis   59.3  130.69  57.2  127.06(Jan.) 

"  As  is  readily  seen,  five  of  the  men  prac- 
tically retained  their  weight  or  made  a  slight 
gain.  Of  the  others,  Coffman,  Loewenthal, 
Sliney,  and  Cohn  lost  somewhat,  but  the 
amount  was  very  small.  Further,  the  loss 
occurred  during  the  first  few  weeks  of  the 
experiment,  after  which  their  weight  re- 
mained practically  stationary.  Fritz  and 
Oakman  lost  weight  somewhat  more  noticea- 
bly, but  this  loss  likewise  occurred  during  the 
earlier  part  of  the  trial.  .  .  .  Of  all  the 
men,  Bates  was  the  only  one  who  underwent 
any  great  loss  of  weight.  He,  however,  was 
quite  stout,  and  the  work  in  the  gymnasium, 
reinforced  by  the  change  in  diet,  brought 
about  what  was  for  him  a  very  desirable  loss 
of  body-weight.  It  is  evident,  therefore, 
that  there  was  no  marked  or  prolonged  loss 

37 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  body-weight  as  a  result  of  the  continued 
use  of  the  low  proteid  diet."  7 

Professor  Chittenden  says  that  regarding 
the  second  point,  viz.,  the  nitrogen  equili- 
brium, two  different  balance  experiments 
with  each  of  the  men,  one  about  the  first  of 
March  and  the  other  a  month  later,  indicated 
plainly  that  the  men  were  receiving  more 
proteid  food  than  was  necessary  to  maintain 
their  bodies  in  nitrogen  equilibrium. 

"  The  experiment  results  presented,"  says 
Professor  Chittenden,  "  afford  very  convinc- 
ing proof  that,  so  far  as  body-weight  and 
nitrogen  equilibrium  are  concerned,  the  needs 
of  the  body  are  fully  met  by  a  consumption 
of  proteid  food  far  below  the  fixed  dietary 
standards,  and  still  further  below  the 
amounts  called  for  by  the  recorded  habits  of 
mankind.  General  health  is  equally  well 
maintained,  and  with  suggestions  of  im- 
provement that  are  frequently  so  marked  as 
to  challenge  attention.  Most  conspicuous, 
however,  though  something  that  was  entirely 
unlooked  for,  was  the  effect  observed  on  the 

7  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  198-200. 
38 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

muscular  strength  of  the  various  subjects. 
When  the  experiments  were  planned  it  was 
deemed  important  to  arrange  for  careful 
quantitative  tests  of  the  more  conspicuous 
muscles  of  the  body,  with  a  view  to  measur- 
ing any  loss  of  strength  that  might  occur 
from  the  proposed  reduction  in  proteid  food. 
The  thought  that  prompted  this  action  was 
a  result  of  the  latent  feeling  that  somehow 
muscular  strength  must  be  dependent  more 
or  less  upon  the  proteid  constituents  of  the 
muscles,  and  that  consequently  the  cutting 
down  of  proteid  food  would  inevitably  be 
felt  in  some  degree.  The  most  that  could  be 
hoped  for  was  that  muscle  tone  and  mus- 
cular strength  might  be  maintained  unim- 
paired. Hence,  we  were  at  first  quite  as- 
tonished at  what  was  actually  observed. 

"With  the  soldier  detail,  fifteen  distinct 
strength  tests  were  made  with  each  man  dur- 
ing the  six  months'  period,  by  means  of  ap- 
propriate dynamometer  tests  applied  to  the 
muscles  of  the  back,  legs,  chest,  upper  arms 
and  forearms  reinforced  by  quarter-mile  run, 
vault,  and  ladder  tests,  etc.     The  so-called 

39 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

'  total  strength '  of  the  man  was  computed 
by  multiplying  the  weight  of  the  body  by  the 
number  of  times  the  subject  was  able  to  push 
up  (strength  of  triceps  muscles)  and  pull  up 
(strength  of  biceps  muscles)  his  body  while 
upon  the  parallel  bars,  to  this  product  being 
added  the  strength  (dynamometer  tests)  of 
hands,  legs,  back,  and  chest.  It  should  be 
added  that  all  of  these  tests  were  made  quite 
independently  in  the  university  gymnasium 
by  the  medical  assistants  and  others  in  charge 
of  the  work  there.  It  will  suffice  for  our 
purpose  to  give  here  the  strength  tests  of  the 
various  members  of  the  soldier  detail  at  the 
beginning  and  close  of  the  experiment : 

Total  Strength 

October  April 

Broyles    2560  5530 

Coifman   2835  6269 

Cohn   2210  4002 

Fritz   .-; 2504  5178 

Henderson    2970  4598 

Loewenthal   2463  5277 

Morris    2543  4869 

Oakman    3445  5055 

Sliney  3245  5307 

Steltz   2838  4581 

Zooman 3070  5457 

40 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

"Without  exception  we  note  with  all  of 
the  men  a  phenomenal  gain  in  strength, 
which  demands  explanation.  Was  it  all  due 
to  the  change  in  diet?  Probably  not,  for 
these  men  at  the  beginning  of  the  experi- 
ment were  untrained,  and  it  is  not  to  be  as- 
sumed that  months  of  practical  work  in  the 
gymnasium  would  not  result  in  a  certain 
amount  of  physical  development,  with  cor- 
responding gain  in  muscular  skill  and  power. 
Putting  this  question  aside  for  the  moment, 
however,  it  is  surely  proper  to  emphasize  this 
fact,  viz.,  that  although  the  men  for  a  period 
of  five  months  were  restricted  to  a  daily  diet 
containing  only  one-third  to  one-half  the 
amount  of  proteid  food  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to,  there  was  no  loss  of  physical 
strength;  no  indication  of  any  physical  de- 
terioration that  could  be  detected.  In  other 
words,  the  men  were  certainly  not  being 
weakened  by  the  lowered  intake  of  proteid 
food."  8 

In  order  to  ascertain  how  much  of  the  im- 
provement in  the  muscular  strength,  skill 

s  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  202-204. 
41 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

and  endurance  of  the  soldiers  was  due  to  the 
change  in  diet  alone,  as  well  as  to  demon- 
strate the  fallaciousness  of  the  old  belief  that 
a  man  doing  heavy  muscular  work  requires  a 
large  quantity  of  proteid  food,  Professor 
Chittenden  secured  as  subjects  for  his  next 
experiment  a  group  of  eight  of  the  leading 
athletes  of  the  University,  all  in  "  training 
form"  and  engaged  constantly  in  violent 
muscular  exercise.  For  five  months  they 
lived  on  a  diet  comprising  not  more  than  one- 
half  to  one-third  the  quantity  of  proteid  food 
they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  eating:  as  in 
the  case  of  the  soldiers,  nitrogenous  equili- 
brium was  maintained,  the  weight,  when  once 
adjusted  to  the  new  level,  remained  practi- 
cally constant  and  the  gymnasium  tests  to 
which  they  were  frequently  subjected 
showed,  in  every  man,  a  truly  remarkable 
gain  in  strength  and  endurance. 

"  Naturally,"  says  Professor  Chittenden, 
"  in  the  case  of  these  men  the  gain  in  strength 
recorded  cannot  be  assigned  to  systematic 
training.  The  only  change  in  their  mode  of 
living  which  can  in  any  sense  be  considered 

42 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

as  responsible  for  the  improvement  is  the 
change  in  diet. 

The  main  fact  to  be  emphasized,  how- 
ever, is  that  these  men — trained  athletes, 
accustomed  to  living  on  relatively  large 
amounts  of  proteid  food — for  a  period  of 
five  months  reduced  their  intake  of  pro- 
teid food  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  without 
loss  of  bodily  strength,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
with  a  marked  improvement  in  muscular 
power."  9 

Convincing  as  these  experiments  may 
seem  to  the  average  lay  mind  they  did  not 
meet  the  old  argument,  drawn  from  certain 
experiments  upon  dogs,  that  high-proteid 
animals  cannot  live  and  thrive  for  any  great 
length  of  time  on  the  low  proteid  diet,  and 
that,  therefore,  while  man,  as  a  moder- 
ate proteid-eater,  can  endure  for  a  while 
even  large  reductions  in  proteid  food  he 
will  eventually  manifest  some  of  the  disas- 
trous results  obtained  experimentally  with 
dogs. 

9  Chittenden:   "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
438. 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Therefore  Professor  Chittenden's  next 
step  was  to  demonstrate  that  these  old  ex- 
periments proved  nothing  at  all  except  that 
any  animal  will  not  thrive  if  kept  in  close 
confinement  under  unhygienic  conditions 
and  fed  on  a  monotonous  diet.  Accord- 
ingly the  twenty  dogs  used  in  his  experiment 
were  kept  under  scrupulously  hygienic  con- 
ditions and  fed  on  a  diet  sufficiently  varied 
to  be  tempting  to  the  appetite,  although 
containing  only  about  one-half  to  one-third 
the  amount  of  proteid  food  to  which  the 
dogs  had  been  accustomed. 

Professor  Chittenden's  account  of  his  ob- 
servations on  one  of  his  subjects  is  as 
follows : 

"  The  animal  employed  in  this  experiment 
weighed  on  July  27,  1905,  17.2  kilograms 
(87.9  pounds)  ;  it  was  apparently  full 
grown,  but  was  thin  and  had  the  appearance 
of  being  underfed.  At  first,  it  was  given 
daily  172  grams  (5§  oz.)  of  meat,  124  grams 
(4<t  oz.)  of  cracker  dust,  and  72  grams  (2j 
oz.)  of  lard,  the  day's  ration  containing 
8.66  grams  of  nitrogen  and  having  a  fuel 

44 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

value  of  1389  calories.10  These  figures  are 
equivalent  to  80  calories,  and  0.50  gram  of 
nitrogen,  per  kilogram  (2.204  pounds)  of 
body-weight.  The  animal  took  kindly  to 
the  diet,  but  on  August  3  it  refused  to  eat 
and  seemed  to  have  a  little  fever.  The  next 
day  it  was  better,  but  for  the  three  follow- 
ing days  its  appetite  was  poor,  and  only  a 
portion  of  the  daily  food  was  eaten.  Body- 
weight  began  to  fall  off,  and  was  soon  at 
15.5  kilograms  (34.16  pounds).  On  the 
7th  of  August,  a  dose  of  vermifuge  was 

io '"A  calorie  may  be  defined  as  the  amount  of  heat  re- 
quired to  raise  one  gram  of  water  1  degree  C.  This  unit 
is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  small  calorie  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  large  calorie,  which  represents  the  amount  of  heat 
required  to  raise  one  kilogram  of  water  1  degree  C.  Hence, 
the  large  calorie  is  equal  to  one  thousand  small  calories. 
When  burned  in  a  calorimeter,  one  gram  of  carbohydrate 
yields  on  an  average  4100  gram-degree  units  of  heat,  or 
small  calories;  one  gram  of  fat  yields  9300  small  calories. 
Both  of  these  non-nitrogenous  foods  burn  or  oxidize  to  the 
same  products — viz.,  carbon  dioxide  and  water — when  util- 
ized in  the  body  as  when  burned  in  the  calorimeter;  hence 
the  figures  given  represent  the  physiological  heat  of  com- 
bustion, per  gram,  of  the  two  classes  of  food  stuffs.  Ob- 
viously, the  fuel  values  of  different  foods  belonging  to  the 
same  group  or  class  will  show  slight  variations,  but  the 
above  figures  represent  average  values." — Chittenden:  "  Nu- 
trition of  Man"  p.  14. 

45 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

given,  after  which  the  appetite  returned  and 
the  animal  appeared  in  good  spirits.  From 
this  time  forward  it  seemed  in  perfect  health, 
with  good  appetite,  and  showed  the  usual 
vivacity  and  playfulness  of  dog-kind.  The 
diet  as  specified  was  continued  unchanged 
until  August  25,  a  balance  experiment  cov- 
ering a  period  of  ten  days,  from  the  15th 
to  the  24th  of  August  inclusive,  being 
carried  out,  in  which  the  nitrogen  of  the  in- 
take was  cpmpared  with  the  output  for  each 
day.  •  .  .  During  this  first  period  the  ani- 
mal was  laying  on  or  gaining  an  average  of 
2  grams  of  nitrogen  per  day. 

"  On  August  25,  a  radical  change  was 
made  in  the  diet,  by  reducing  the  amount  of 
meat  to  70  grams  (2J  oz.)  daily,  thereby 
lowering  the  intake  of  nitrogen  to  4.76 
grams  or  0.27  gram  per  kilo  of  body- weight; 
the  cracker  dust  and  lard  being  kept  at  es- 
sentially the  same  levels  as  before.  This 
diet  was  continued  through  the  next  balance 
period,  the  dog  in  the  meantime  gaining  in 
body-weight,  and  showing  for  the  second 
balance  period  an  average  gain  by  the  body 

46 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  half  a  gram  of  nitrogen  per  day.  The 
food  was  then  altered  by  substituting  bread 
for  cracker  dust,  but  so  adjusted  that  the 
nitrogen  and  fuel  values  of  the  day's  food 
remained  practically  unchanged.  There  was 
still,  however,  a  gain  in  body-weight  and  a 
slight  gain  in  body  nitrogen.  At  the  close 
of  the  third  balance  period,  the  diet  was 
again  altered,  one-half  of  the  meat  being 
replaced  by  milk,  while  cracker  dust  was 
substituted  for  the  bread.  The  morning 
meal  consisted  of  170  grams  (5§  oz.)  of 
milk,  86  grams  (3  oz.)  cracker  dust,  and  18 
grams  (f  oz.)  of  lard,  while  the  afternoon 
meal  was  composed  of  35  grams  (lj  oz.)  of 
meat,  63  grams  (2  oz.)  of  cracker,  and  35 
grams  (l<t  oz.)  lard.  The  day's  ration, 
however,  still  contained  4.76  grams  of 
nitrogen  and  had  a  fuel  value  of  1249 
calories.  This  diet  was  maintained  until 
November  20,  when  the  animal  was  again 
placed  on  a  daily  ration  of  meat  69  grams 
(2  J  oz.) ,  bread  166  grams  (5J  oz.) ,  and  lard 
80  grams  (2§  oz.)  with  a  total  fuel  value  of 
1228  calories  and  4.77  grams  of  nitrogen. 

47     • 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

This  was  continued  until  December  2,  the 
dog  still  showing  a  plus  nitrogen  balance, 
but  with  a  little  loss  in  body-weight.  On 
December  2,  the  diet  was  again  changed  by 
substituting  milk  for  a  portion  of  the  meat, 
but  the  nitrogen  and  fuel  values  were  main- 
tained at  the  same  level  as  before.  After  a 
week,  December  9,  the  food  was  modified  as 
follows:  the  morning  meal  contained  170 
grams  (5§  oz.)  of  milk,  110  grams  (3§  oz.) 
of  rice,  and  11  grams  (i  oz.)  of  lard,  while 
the  afternoon  meal  was  composed  of  35 
grams  (lj  oz.)  of  meat,  81  grams  (2§  oz.) 
of  rice,  and  30  grams  (1  oz. )  of  lard.  The 
total  nitrogen  content  of  the  day's  ration 
was  4.07  grams,  while  the  fuel  value  was 
1255  calories.  At  this  time,  the  animal 
weighed  17.1  kilograms  (37.68  pounds), 
consequently  the  intake  of  nitrogen  had  been 
reduced  to  0.23  gram  per  kilo  of  body- 
weight,  while  the  fuel  value  stood  at  73 
calories  per  kilogram.  This  diet  was  con- 
tinued until  February  9,  the  balance  period, 
between  January  2  and  11,  showing  that  the 
animal  was  in  nitrogen  equilibrium,  in  spite 

48 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  the  material  reduction  in  the  intake  of 
proteid,  and  that  body-weight  was  increas- 
ing. The  next  balance  period,  January  30 
to  February  8,  showed  still  further  gain  in 
weight  with  continuance  of  nitrogen  equili- 
brium. On  February  9,  the  diet  was 
changed  by  returning  to  70  grams  (2j  oz.) 
of  meat,  158  grams  (5|  oz.)  of  cracker  dust, 
and  60  grams  of  lard,  with  a  daily  intake 
of  0.28  gram  of  nitrogen  per  kilo  of  body- 
weight. 

'  In  this  manner,  the  experiment  was  con- 
tinued with  frequent  changes  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  diet,  but  always  maintaining  essen- 
tially the  same  value  in  nitrogen  and  calories 
as  shown  in  the  table,  until  June  27;  having 
extended  through  just  eleven  months,  with 
the  animal  at  the  close  of  the  experiment  still 
gaining  in  body-weight,  with  a  steady  plus 
balance  of  nitrogen,  and  with  every  indica- 
tion of  good  health  and  strength.  For  ten 
months  the  animal  lived  with  perfect  com- 
fort and  in  good  condition  on  an  average 
daily  intake  of  0.26  gram  of  nitrogen  per 
kilogram  of  body-weight,  and  with  an  aver- 

49 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

age  fuel  value  of  70.3  calories  per  kilo. 
Further,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  at  no  time 
during  the  ten  months  did  the  daily  intake 
of  nitrogen  rise  above  0.28  gram  per  kilo, 
while  during  one  month  it  fell  0.23  gram  per 
kilo. 

Similarly,  the  fuel  value  of  the  daily 
food  never  exceeded  73  calories  per  kilo, 
while  at  times  it  dropped  as  low  as  67  and  65 
calories  per  kilo.  That  this  diet  was  more 
than  sufficient,  both  in  nitrogen  and  fuel 
value,  is  indicated  by  the  steady  increase  in 
body-weight  and  by  the  plus  nitrogen 
balance  observed  in  most  of  the  periods 
throughout  the  experiment.  Indeed,  with 
the  comparatively  low  degree  of  muscular 
activity  which  this  animal  was  accustomed 
to,  it  would  have  been  unwise  to  have  kept 
the  subject  much  longer  on  a  diet  so  rich  as 
the  above,  since  there  would  have  been 
danger  of  detriment  to  its  health  and  good 
condition."  n 

Professor  Chittenden's  conclusion  from 
these  experiments  is  as  follows :     "  These 

ii  Chittenden:   "Nutrition   of   Man,"   pp.   244-248. 

50 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

experiments  on  the  influence  of  a  low  pro- 
teid  diet  on  dogs,  as  a  type  of  high  proteid 
consumers,  taken  in  their  entirety,  afford 
convincing  proof  that  such  animals  can  live 
and  thrive  on  amounts  of  proteid  and  non- 
nitrogenous  food  far  below  the  standards 
set  by  Munk  and  Rosenheim.  The  delete- 
rious results  reported  by  these  investigators 
were  not  due  to  the  effects  of  low  proteid  or 
to  diminished  consumption  of  non-nitrogen- 
ous foods,  but  are  to  be  ascribed  mainly  to 
non-hygienic  conditions,  or  to  a  lack  of  care 
and  physiological  good  sense  in  the  prescrip- 
tion of  a  narrow  dietary  not  suited  to  the 
habits  and  needs  of  this  class  of  animals. 
Further,  it  is  obvious  that  the  more  or  less 
broad  deductions  so  frequently  drawn  from 
the  experiments  of  Munk  and  Rosenheim, 
especially  in  their  application  to  mankind, 
are  entirely  unwarranted  and  without 
foundation  in  fact.  Our  experiments  offer 
satisfying  proof  that  not  only  can  dogs  live 
on  quantities  of  proteid  food  per  day  smaller 
than  these  investigators  deemed  necessary, 
and  with  a  fuel  value  far  below  the  standard 

51 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

adopted  by  them ;  but,  in  addtion,  that  these 
animals  are  quite  able  on  such  a  diet  to  gain 
in  body-weight  and  to  lay  by  nitrogen, 
thereby  indicating  that  even  smaller  quan- 
tities of  food  might  suffice  to  meet  their  true 
physiological  requirements."  12 

Further  experimental  evidence  in  the  in- 
vestigation of  both  Mr.  Fletcher's  claims 
for  mastication  and  Professor  Chittenden's 
claims  for  a  deliberately  restricted  proteid 
diet,  has  been  contributed  by  Professor 
Irving  Fisher,  professor  of  political 
economy  at  Yale,  who,  as  a  political 
economist,  has  been  interested  in  testing 
the  alleged  effect  of  the  new  system  of  diet 
upon  a  man's  output  of  work. 

Professor  Fisher's  first  experiment  was 
upon  nine  Yale  students,  in  vigorous  health 
and  of  ordinary  student  occupations,  and 
lasted  twenty  weeks.  The  men  were  in- 
structed to  follow  their  own  tastes  in  choos- 
ing the  character  and  amount  of  the  food 
taken,  but  were  asked  not  to  eat  until  they 
were  equally  hungry  and  then  to  masticate 

12  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  263-264. 

52 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

both  solid  and  liquid  food  until  it  was  in- 
voluntarily sucked  down  into  the  throat. 

The  experiment  is  thus  described  by  Pro- 
fessor Fisher: 

"  Two  years  later,"  (than  the  experiments 
upon  Mr.  Fletcher),  "in  1906,  nine  Yale 
students  under  my  direction  experimented 
with  Mr.  Fletcher's  method  of  instinctive 
eating.  Careful  records  were  taken  of  the 
amounts  of  food  consumed  and  the  propor- 
tions of  proteid,  fat  and  carbohydrate  (starch 
and  sugar)  used.  In  order  to  avoid  the  an- 
noyance of  weighing  the  food  at  the  table 
it  was  all  weighed  in  the  kitchen  and  served 
in  definite  portions  of  known  food  value. 
From  these  records  the  proportions  of  pro- 
teid, fat  and  carbohydrate  were  worked  out 
by  means  of  a  Mechanical  Diet  Indicator, 
which  I  have  described  in  The  American 
Journal  of  Physiology  and  The  Journal  of 
the  American  Medical  Association.  Records 
wTere  made  for  each  man  and  each  day  dur- 
ing the  five  months  of  the  experiment.  It 
was  found  that  the  proteid  element  was 
gradually  and  unconsciously  reduced.  Dur- 

53 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ing  the  second  half  of  the  experiment  this 
reduction  was  somewhat  accelerated  by  sug- 
gesting to  the  men  that  when  appetite  was 
in  doubt  they  should  give  the  benefit  of  that 
doubt  to  low  proteid  non-flesh  foods:  but 
the  men  were  never  encouraged  to  choose 
any  food  when  their  instinct  definitely  pre- 
ferred another. 

"  The  main  lesson  from  the  experiment, 
however,  was  that  the  men  improved  in 
health  and  physical  endurance.  By  actual 
gymnasium  tests  it  was  found  that  the 
physical  endurance  of  the  men  was  approxi- 
mately doubled  in  five  months.  .  .  .  Only 
one  of  the  men  failed  to  improve  in  endur- 
ance, and  this  exception  proved  the  rule,  for 
he  was  the  only  one  of  the  nine  who  was  not 
thorough  in  his  practice  of  mastication,  nor 
did  he,  in  consequence,  reduce  his  flesh  foods 
as  much  as  did  the  other  experimenters.  The 
majority  of  the  men  who  took  part  in  the  ex- 
periment have  become  enthusiastic,  have  con- 
tinued to  '  Fletcherize,'  and  have  taken  up 
physical  culture  in  all  of  its  branches."  13 

is  Fisher:  The  Independent,  New  York,  August,  1907. 

54 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

A  previous  experiment  made  by  Profes- 
sor Fisher  with  a  number  of  meat-eaters  and 
vegetarians  showed  that  "  those  who  ate 
little  or  no  flesh  foods  have  greater  endur- 
ance than  those  who  use  flesh  foods  in  abund- 
ance "  14 — a  fact  which  also  tends  to  uphold 
the  argument  for  the  merits  of  a  low-proteid 
diet. 

Both  Professor  Chittenden's  and  Profes- 
sor Fisher's  experiments  lead  to  the  same 
conclusion — i.  e.,  that  man  can  live  and 
thrive  on  from  one-half  to  one-third  of  the 
amount  of  food  prescribed  by  the  so-called 
"standard"  dietaries;  and  in  the  author's 
opinion  seem  to  confirm,  without  scientific- 
ally proving,  Mr.  Fletcher's  claim  that,  by 
the  practice  of  complete  mastication,  the 
amounts  of  food  demanded  by  the  appetite 
may  be  brought  naturally  into  conformation 
with  these  true  physiologic  needs.15 

i* Fisher:  "The  Influence  of  Flesh-eating  on  Endurance." 
New  Haven,  Conn. 

is  For  the  convenience  of  the  reader,  the  terms  of  the 
metric  system  used  by  Professor  Chittenden  in  designating 
the  amounts  of  food,  etc.,  used  in  his  experiments,  have 
been  indicated  in  terms  of  the  avoirdupois  system. 

55 


CHAPTER  II 

Topics:  Composition  of  foods.  Purposes  served  by 
'•the  various  food  elements.  Digestion.  Changes 
occurring  in  the  mouth.  New  discoveries  in  regard 
to  saliva.  The  effect  of  mastication  upon  the  di- 
gestive process.  Taste  and  appetite  as  stimuli  of 
the  digestive  secretions.  Other  psychic  influences 
in  digestion.  Assimilation.  Poisonous  properties  of 
the  body-waste.  Metabolism.  Quantities  of  food 
necessary  to  the  maintenance  of  physical  efficiency. 
The  old  dietary  standards.    The  new  standards. 

TN  order  that  the  argument  that  follows 
A  can  be  readily  understood,  it  is  desirable 
that  the  reader  should  have  a  general  work- 
ing knowledge  of  the  chemical  composition 
of  his  foods,  of  the  several  purposes  which 
the  various  food  elements  serve  in  the  bodily 
economy,  and  of  the  diiFerent  processes  by 
which  these  purposes  are  accomplished. 

All  foods,  whether  animal  or  vegetable, 
are  made  up  of  three  distinct  classes  of 
organic  compounds  known  as  proteid  or 
nitrogenous  or  albuminous  substances,  car- 
bohydrates, and  fats;  and  of  some  fifteen 

56 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

different  inorganic  salts.1  Of  these  the  pro- 
teid  substances  held  the  first  place.  They 
form  the  chemical  basis  of  all  living  cells* 
and  without  them,  there  can  be  no  life. 
They  are  the  material  which  builds  the  body, 
which  insures  growth  and  which  repairs 
tissue  broken  down  by  muscular  exercise. 

"  The  vital  part  of  all  tissue  is  proteid," 
says  Professor  Chittenden,  "  and  only  pro- 
teid can  serve  for  its  growth  or  renewal. 
.  .  .  Every  living  cell,  whether  of  heart, 
muscle,  brain  or  nerve,  requires  its  due  allow- 
ance of  proteid  material  to  maintain  its 
physiological  rhythm.  No  other  foodstuff 
stands  in  such  intimate  relationship  to  the 
vital  process."  2 

As  has  been  said  before,  the  foods  which 
contain  the  highest  percentages  of  proteid 
and  which,  therefore,  are  known  as  "  proteid 
foods,"   are   meat,   fish,   eggs,   nuts,   peas, 

1  Note — Proteid  substances  are  characterized  by  contain- 
ing about  16  per  cent,  of  nitrogen.  In  addition,  they  con- 
tain on  an  average  52  per  cent,  of  carbon,  7  per  cent,  of 
hydrogen,  23  per  cent,  of  oxygen,  and  0.5 — 2.0  per  cent,  of 
sulphur  .  .  .  Carbohydrates  .  .  .  are  entirely  free 
from  nitrogen,  containing  only  carbon  (44.4  per  cent.), 
hydrogen  (6.2  per  cent.),  and  oxygen  (49.4  per  cent.),  and 
hence  are  classified  as  non-nitrogenous  foods. — "  Nutrition 
of  Man"  pp.  3-5. 

2  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  4-5. 

57 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

beans,  lentils  and  cheese;  but  there  is  no 
article  of  human  diet  except  sugar  and  pure 
fat,  into  which  it  does  not  enter  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree.  Other  things  being  equal, 
proteid  seems  to  serve  its  purpose  in  the 
bodily  economy  equally  well  whether  de- 
rived from  the  animal  or  from  the  vegetable 
kingdom. 

The  carbohydrates  and  fats  furnish  the 
fuel  for  the  body.  They  yield  the  heat  that 
keeps  it  warm  and  the  energy  that  enables 
it  to  do  its  work.  While  they  are  incapable 
of  adding  to  the  lean  tissue  without  which 
the  body  cannot  exist,  they  are  able — when 
taken  in  excess  of  immediate  fuel  needs — to 
lay  up  a  store  of  fat  which  the  body  can 
draw  upon  for  its  heat  and  energy  whenever 
its  food  supply  is  cut  off. 

The  carbohydrates  are  found  chiefly  in 
grains;  in  vegetables  (other  than  peas, 
beans  and  lentils) ;  and  in  fruits.  All  sweets 
and  all  "  starchy "  foods — of  which  the 
sweets  are  really  only  a  form — belong  in 
this  class.  For  this  reason  the  carbo- 
hydrates are  frequently  called  "  the  starches 
and  sugars." 

58 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Fats  are  found  in  almost  all  the  proteid 
foods.  There  is  no  meat  that  is  not  streaked 
with  them  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  and 
nuts  are  generously  supplied  with  them  in 
the  form  of  oil.  Of  all  the  vegetables  the 
;*  fattest  "  are  the  "  legumes  " — peas,  beans, 
lentils  and  peanuts.  Cheese  is  almost  as  rich 
in  fat  as  it  is  in  proteid.  About  the  only 
foods  which  are  prized  primarily  for  their 
fats,  are  butter  and  vegetable  oils. 

Inorganic  salts  are  required  by  the  body 
for  the  building  of  bones  and  teeth,  and  for 
the  regulation  and  control  of  the  nutritive 
processes.  They  cannot  build  live  tissue  or 
furnish  heat  and  energy,  but  they  are  essen- 
tial as  aids  to  digestion  and  assimilation. 
They  are  contained  in  all  forms  of  food,  but 
they  exist  in  the  vegetables  in  the  greatest 
number  and  variety. 

The  following  table,  compiled  by  Profes- 
sor Chittenden  from  data  given  in  Bulletin 
28  (Revised  Edition)  of  U.  S.  Department 
of  Agriculture,  indicates  the  relative  distri- 
bution of  the  various  classes  of  food  ele- 
ments in  some  common  articles  of  diet. 


59 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

The  Chemical  Composition  of  Some  Common  Food 
Materials.^ 

*  .                 .      £*o 

MATERIALS     |S  fgS  J5S           |g          ||S      1  Sj| 

Cooked  beef 

roasted 22.3  0  28.6        48.2        1.3        1620 

Cooked  round 

steak 27.6  0  7.7        63.0        1.8          840 

Tenderloin  steak 

broiled 23.5  0  20.4        54.8        1.2        1300 

Dried  beef, 

canned    39.2  0  5.4        44.8      11.2          960 

Stewed  kidneys, 

canned   18.4  2.1  5.1        71.9         2.5          600 

Lamb  chops 

broiled     21.7  0  29.9        47.6        1.3        1665 

Roast  leg  lamb  ..19.4  0  12.7  67.1  0.8  900 
Roast  leg 

mutton   25.9  0  22.6        50.9        1.2        1420 

Smoked  ham, 

fat    14.8  0  52.3        27.9        3.7        2485 

Roast  Turkey  ...27.8  0  18.4        52.0        1.2        1295 

fvf*l Oft  Q^PPfl 

chicken 17.6  2.4  11.5        67.5        1.0          855 

Cooked  bluefish  .26.1  0  4.5  68.2  1.2  670 
Broiled  Spanish 

mackerel    23.2  0  6.5        68.9        1.4          715 

Canned  salmon  ..21.8  0  12.1         63.5         2.6           915 

Canned  sardines.. 23.0  0  19.7  52.3  5.6  162 
Fresh  round 

clams    6.5  4.2  0.4        86.2        2.7          215 

Fresh  oysters  ...  6.0  3.3  1.3        88.3        1.1          230 

Boiled   eggs    13.2  0  12.0        73.2        0.8          765 

Butter   1.0  0  85.0        11.0        3.0        3605 

Full  cream 

cheese 25.9  2.4  33.7        34.2        3.8         1950 

Milk    3.3  5.0  4.0        87.0         0.7           325 

Boiled  rice    2.8  24.4  0.1        72.5        0.2          525 

3  Chittenden:   "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.   7-10. 

60 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION  SIMPLIFIED 

...  .  £»o 

*J          w+i        *J  +2  ti  ^3fl 

FOOD            |S       i|S         8  fcS  g§S  ^I| 

MATERIALS       Eg        stfc.      tag  I  S  s!&  1  fc| 

Php,       cap,      fcp,  ^a  S^ft  feftS 

Brown  bread  ....  5.4  47.1  1.8  43.6  2.1  1050 
Wheat  bread 

rolls     8.9      56.7      4.1  29.2  1.1  1395 

Wholewheat 

bread    9.4      49.7      0.9  38.4  1.3  1140 

Soda   crackers...  9.8       73.1       9.1  5.9  2.1  1925 

Ginger  bread....  5.8       63.5       9.0  18.8  2.9  1670 

Lady  fingers 8.8       70.6      5.0  15.0  0.6  1685 

Spongecake 6.3       65.9     10.7  15.3  1.8  1795 

Apple  pie 3.1       42.8       9.8  42.5  .    1.8  1270 

Tapioca   pudding.  3.3       28.2      3.2  64.5  0.8  720 

Cooked   beets 2.3         7.4       0.1  88.6  1.6  185 

Dried  peas 24.6       62.0       1.0  9.5  2.9  1655 

Boiled  potatoes..  2.5      20.9       0.1  75.5  1.0  440 

Fresh  tomatoes  .  0.9  3.9  0.4  94.3  0.5  105 
Baked  beans, 

canned    6.9       19.6      2.5  68.9  2.1  600 

Apples    0.4       14.2       0.5  84.6  3.0  290 

Bananas,   yellow.   1.3      22.0      0.6  75.3  0.8  460 

Oranges    0.8       11.6      0.2  86.9  0.5  240 

Peaches    0.7        9.4       0.1  89.4  0.4  190 

Strawberries     ...  1.0        7.4       0.6  90.4  0.6  180 

Almonds    21.0      17.3    54.9  4.8  2.0  3030 

Peanuts    25.8      24.4     38.6  9.2  2.0  2560 

Pine  nuts     33.9         6.9     49.4  6.4  3.4  2845 

Brazil  nuts 17.0        7.0    66.8  5.3  3.9  3265 

English   walnuts.  16. 6      16.1     63.4  2.5  1.4  3285 

In  using  this  table,  the  fact  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  foods  containing  equal 
quantities  of  the  various  food  elements  are 
not  necessarily,  because  of  their  varying  de- 
grees of  digestibility,  of  equal  food  value. 

61 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

"  For  example,"  says  Professor  Chittenden, 
"  roast  mutton,  cream  cheese  and  dried  peas 
contain  approximately  the  same  amount  of 
proteid.  Are  we  to  infer  that  these  three 
foods  have  the  same  nutritive  value  so  far  as 
proteid  is  concerned?  Surely  not,  since  no 
account  is  taken  of  the  relative  digestibility 
of  the  three  foods.  ...  In  a  general  way 
it  may  be  stated  that  with  animal  foods, 
such  as  meats,  eggs,  and  milk,  about  97  per 
cent,  of  the  contained  proteid  is  digested  and 
thereby  rendered  available  for  the  body. 
With  ordinary  vegetable  foods,  on  the  other 
hand,  as  they  are  usually  prepared  for  con- 
sumption, only  about  85  per  cent,  of  the  pro- 
teid is  made  available.  This  is  partially  due 
to  the  presence  in  the  vegetable  tissue  of 
cellulose,  which  in  some  measure  prevents 
that  thorough  attack  of  the  proteid  juices 
which  occurs  with  animal  foods.  With  a 
mixed  diet,  i.  e.j  with  a  variable  admixture 
of  animal  and  vegetable  foods,  it  is  usually 
considered  that  about  92  per  cent,  of  the 
proteid  contained  therein  will  undergo 
digestion. 

62 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

"  Regarding  differences  in  the  availability 
of  fats,  it  may  be  stated  that,  as  a  rule,  the 
fatty  matter  contained  in  vegetable  foods  is 
less  readily,  or  less  thoroughly,  digested  than 
that  present  in  foods  of  animal  origin.  In 
the  latter,  about  95  per  cent,  of  the  fat  is 
digested  and  absorbed.  This  figure,  how- 
ever, is  generally  taken  as  representing  ap- 
proximately the  digestibility  or  availability 
of  the  fat  contained  in  man's  daily  dietary, 
since  by  far  the  larger  proportion  of  the  fat 
consumed  is  of  animal  origin.  Carbo- 
hydrates, on  the  other  hand,  are  much  more 
easily  utilized  by  the  body.  Naturally, 
sugars,  owing  to  their  great  solubility  and 
ready  difFusibility,  offer  little  difficulty  in 
the  way  of  easy  digestion ;  but  starches  like- 
wise, though  not  so  readily  assimilable,  are 
digested,  as  a  rule,  to  the  extent  of  98  per 
cent,  or  more  of  the  amount  consumed." 4 

Before  food  taken  into  the  body  can  be 
built  up  into  living  tissue  or  made  to  yield 
its  content  of  heat  and  energy,  it  must  first 
undergo  the  process  of  digestion.    This  pro- 

*  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  12-13, 
63 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

cess — contrary  to  the  ideas  of  the  old  physi- 
ologists who  thought  that  digestion  began  in 
the  stomach — is  now  known  to  have  its 
inception  in  the  mouth.  Saliva — once  be- 
lieved to  be  chiefly  useful  in  rendering  foods 
soft  and  moist  enough  to  pass  easily  down 
the  esophagus — is  now  known  to  be  one  of 
the  most  powerful  digestive  juices  secreted 
by  the  body;  and  the  act  of  mastication — 
once  thought  to  serve  the  somewhat  insig- 
nificant purpose  of  breaking  up  the  food  into 
particles  small  enough  to  be  swallowed — is 
now  known  to  perform  a  number  of  impor- 
tant offices  in  the  work  of  digestion.  The 
first  of  these  is  to  accelerate  the  flow  of 
saliva  and  to  increase  its  digestive  power  by 
heightening  its  alkalinity. 

This  is  of  the  very  highest  importance  to 
the  digestion  of  the  whole  great  class  of 
foodstuffs  known  as  carbohydrates.  While 
the  saliva  has  no  appreciable  chemical  effect 
upon  the  fats  and  proteids,  it  is  capable  of 
practically  completing  the  digestion  of  the 
starches  and  sugars — if  they  are  retained  in 
the  mouth  long  enough  and  subjected  to 

64 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

sufficient  mastication — before  they  are  swal- 
lowed into  the  stomach. 

"  Need  we  comment,  in  view  of  the  natural 
brevity  of  this  process,"  says  Prof.  Chitten- 
den, "upon  the  desirability  for  purely 
physiological  reasons  of  prolonging  within 
reasonable  limits  the  interval  of  time  the  food 
and  saliva  are  commingled  in  the  mouth 
cavity?  It  seems  obvious,  in  view  of  the  re- 
latively large  bulk  of  starch-containing  foods 
consumed  daily,  that  habits  of  thorough  mas- 
tication should  be  fostered,  with  the  purpose 
of  increasing  greatly  the  digestion  of  starch 
at  the  very  gateway  of  the  alimentary  tract. 
It  is  true  that  in  the  small  intestine  there 
comes  later  another  opportunity  for  the 
digestion  of  starch ;  but  it  is  unphysiological, 
as  it  is  undesirable,  for  various  reasons,  not 
to  take  full  advantage  of  the  first  oppor- 
tunity which  Nature  gives  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  this  important  foodstuff  for  future 
utilization.  Further,  thorough  mastication, 
by  a  fine  comminution  of  the  food  particles, 
is  a  material  aid  in  the  digestion  which  is  to 
take  place   in  the   stomach   and  intestine. 

65 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Under  normal  conditions,  therefore,  and 
"with  proper  observance  of  physiological 
good  sense,  a  large  proportion  of  the  in- 
gested starchy  foods  can  be  made  ready  for 
speedy  absorption  and  consequent  utilization 
through  the  agency  of  salivary  digestion." 

Dr.  Harry  Campbell 6  of  the  North- West 
London  Hospital  says : 

"  The  saliva  has  apparently  no  effect  on 
fats ;  whether  it  acts  on  proteids  seems  more 
doubtful,  though  by  some  authorities  the 
penetration  of  these  by  the  alkali  of  this  fluid 
is  said  to  aid  in  their  subsequent  digestion; 
on  starch,  however,  the  saliva  acts  very 
potently,  and  hence  mastication  plays  a 
special  part  in  promoting  the  digestion  of 
starchy  foods.  Indeed,  if  only  mastication 
be  persisted  in  long  enough,  starch  may  be 
wholly  converted  into  maltose  (a  form  of 
sugar)  within  the  mouth.  .  .  .  Provided 
they  be  sufficiently  insalivated,  there  are  few 
starchy  foods  that  are  indigestible,  not  even 

e  Chittenden:    "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  23. 
e  Campbell:  Lecture  quoted  in  "The  A.  B. — Z.  of  Our 
Own  Nutrition,"  pp.  101-102. 

66 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

excepting  the  proverbially  indigestible  new 
potato." 

The  chief  factors  in  the  production  of 
salivary  flow — aside  from  the  mechanical 
movements  of  chewing — are  the  thought, 
taste,  sight  and  smell  of  tempting  food. 
"  The  secretory  center  may  be  stimulated, 
and  likewise  inhibited,  in  impulses  which 
have  their  origin  in  higher  nerve  centers  in 
the  brain,"  says  Professor  Chittenden.  .  .  • 
"  The  thought  and  the  odor  of  savory  food 
cause  the  mouth  to  water.  Similarly  fear, 
embarrassment,  and  anxiety  frequently  cause 
a  dry  mouth  and  parched  throat.  .  .  .  The 
application  of  these  facts  to  our  subject  is 
perfectly  obvious,  since  they  suggest  at  once 
how  the  production  of  an  important  diges- 
tive fluid — upon  which  the  utilization  of  a 
given  class  of  foodstuffs  may  be  quite  de- 
pendent— is  controlled  and  modified  through 
the  nervous  system  by  a  variety  of  circum- 
stances. We  might  reason  that  the  appear- 
ance, odor,  and  palatability  of  food  are 
factors  of  prime  importance  in  its  utilization 
by  the  body ;  and  that  the  aesthetics  of  eating 

67 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

are  not  to  be  ignored  since  they  have  an  im- 
portant influence  upon  the  flow  of  the  diges- 
tive secretions.  A  peaceful  mind,  pleasur- 
able anticipations,  freedom  from  care  and 
anxiety,  cheerful  companionship,  all  form 
desirable  table  accessories  which  play  the  part 
of  true  psychical  stimuli  in  accelerating  the 
flow  of  the  digestive  juices  and  thus  pave  the 
way  for  easy  and  thorough  digestion." 7 

In  the  stomach  the  saliva  continues  its 
digestive  activity  until  it  is  brought  in  con- 
tact with  the  gastric  juice.  This  fluid,  being 
an  acid,  promptly  neutralizes  the  effect  of 
the  alkaline  saliva,  and  checks  temporarily 
the  further  digestion  of  the  starchy  foods. 
Therefore  it  is  easy  to  understand  that,  as 
Dr.  Harry  Campbell 8  points  out : 

"  Mastication  increases  the  amount  of 
alkaline  saliva  passing  into  the  stomach,  and 
this  not  only  prolongs  the  period  of  starch 
digestion  within  this  organ,  but,  by  its  in- 
fluence upon  the  reaction  of  the  gastric  con- 

7  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  18-19. 
s Campbell:  Lecture  quoted  in  "The  A.  B.— Z.  of  Our 
Own  Nutrition,"  p.  102. 

68 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

tents,  influences  all  the  digestive  processes 
taking  place  there." 

When  the  action  of  the  saliva  has  been 
ended,  the  gastric  juice  takes  up  the  work 
of  digesting  the  fats  and  proteids.  As  in 
the  case  of  saliva,  the  scientists  have  been 
finding  out  some  new  things  in  regard  to  this 
fluid  which  have  greatly  modified  their  ideas 
in  regard  to  the  whole  subject  of  nutrition. 
It  was  formerly  thought  that  the  secretion 
of  gastric  juice  was  caused  by  the  contact  of 
the  food  with  the  stomach  walls.  A  short 
time  ago,  however,  Professor  J.  P.  Pavlov, 
director  of  the  Department  of  Experimental 
Physiology  in  the  Russian  Military  School 
of  Medicine  at  St.  Petersburg,  by  a  series  of 
experiments  upon  dogs,  established  posi- 
tively that  the  flow  of  gastric  juice  was 
caused  primarily,  not  by  contact  of  the  food 
with  the  stomach-walls,  but  by  a  keen  desire 
for  food  and  by  the  pleasure  of  eating  it — 
that  is,  by  appetite  and  taste. 

"  Pavlov  has  clearly  shown,"  says  Profes- 
sor Chittenden,  "that  the  gastric  juice  is 
started  by  impulses  which  have  their  origin 

69 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

in  the  mouth  and  nostrils;  the  sensation  of 
eating,  the  smell,  sight,  and  taste  of  food 
serving  as  psychical  stimuli,  which  call  forth 
a  secretion  from  the  stomach  glands,  just  as 
the  same  stimuli  may  induce  an  outpouring 
of  saliva.  These  sensations,  as  Pavlov  has 
asserted,  affect  secretory  centers  in  the  brain, 
and  impulses  are  thus  started  which  travel 
downward  to  the  stomach  through  the  vagus 
nerves,  and  as  a  result  gastric  juice  begins 
to  flow."9 

The  first  and  mightiest  exciter  of  the  secre- 
tory nerves  of  the  stomach,  therefore,  is  the 
appetite.  After  appetite,  the  chief  agent  for 
the  production  of  gastric  juice  is  a  keen  sense 
of  the  pleasant  taste  of  food.  As  the  finer 
degrees  of  appreciation  can  be  achieved  only 
when  food  is  finely  divided,  subjected  to  the 
transforming  action  of  saliva,  and  passed 
slowly  over  the  "  taste-buds  "  in  the  mouth, 
it  can  readily  be  seen  that  mastication  plays 
an  important  part  in  this  process. 

"  The  mere  chewing  of  food,"  says  Dr. 
Daniel  S.  Sager,  "  is  sufficient  to  cause  an 

©Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  23-24. 
70 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

abundant  flow  of  gastric  juice.  The  longer 
the  food  is  held  in  the  mouth,  the  greater  the 
impression  made  on  the  nerves  of  taste. 
Through  these  nerves  the  appetite  center  is 
stimulated,  and  from  this  center  are  sent  out 
to  the  stomach  powerful  nervous  impulses 
which  excite  the  glands  to  activity  whereby 
powerful  appetite  juice  is  produced.  When 
food  is  swallowed  quickly,  its  various  flavors 
are  little  appreciated.  The  excitation  pro- 
duced is  of  no  consequence,  and  the  amount 
of  juice  secreted  will  be  very  small;  whereas 
if  the  food  is  retained  in  the  mouth  and  mas- 
ticated until  every  particle  of  sapid  sub- 
stance is  extracted  from  it,  there  is  an  abund- 
ant flow  of  juice  and  the  greatest  good  is 
derived  from  it.  When  food  is  eaten  in  the 
ordinary  hasty  manner,  the  taste  is  swal- 
lowed with  it,  the  palate  is  stimulated  only 
to  a  very  moderate  extent,  very  little  appetite 
juice  is  produced,  and  digestion  fails  in  con- 
sequence." 10 

Dr.  Harry  Campbell  says :     "  It  is  now 
known  that  mastication  acts  reflexly  upon 

10  Sager:  "  The  Art  of  Living  in  Good  Health,"  pp.  23-24. 

71 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

the  stomach,  promoting  the  flow  of  gastric 
juice,  and  thus  preparing  the  stomach  for 
the  entrance  of  the  food  into  it.  Food  intro- 
duced into  the  stomach,  unaccompanied  by- 
mastication,  is  less  effective  in  promoting  the 
gastric  flow.  It  is  probable  that  the  influ- 
ence of  mastication  on  the  flow  of  gastric 
juice  is  largely  produced  through  the 
medium  of  psychic  influences,  for  the  more 
efficient  the  mastication,  the  more  is  the  sense 
of  taste  affected."  " 

As  in  the  case  of  saliva,  the  gastric  secre- 
tions are  stimulated  by  pleasure  and  checked 
by  distress.  Through  observations  on  ani- 
mals by  means  of  the  Rontgen  Ray,  scien- 
tists have  been  able  actually  to  watch  this  law 
at  work.  By  mixing  with  the  food  a  small 
quantity  of  subnitrate  of  bismuth,  a  tasteless 
and  practically  harmless  substance  which  is 
opaque  to  the  Rontgen  Ray,  Dr.  W.  B. 
Cannon,  of  the  physiological  laboratory  of 
the  Harvard  Medical  School,  showed  by 
ocular  demonstration,  that  as  long  as  the  sub- 

11  Campbell:  Lecture  quoted  in  "The  A.  B—  Z.  of  Our 
Own  Nutrition,"  pp.  102-103. 

72 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ject  of  the  experiment,  a  female  cat,  was 
kept  happy  and  comfortable,  the  food  passed 
rapidly  and  rhythmically  along  the  digestive 
tract,  but  as  soon  as  the  cat  was  hurt  or  an- 
noyed, the  movements  stopped  short  and  the 
food  remained  stationary  until  the  cat  was 
once  more  made  comfortable  or  restored  to  a 
good  humor.12 

As  food  is  brought  into  proper  condition 
by  the  stomach,  it  is  permitted  to  pass  gradu- 
ally into  the  small  intestine  where  digestion 
is  completed  and  the  absorption  of  the  pre- 
pared food  material  into  the  blood  is  begun. 

"  The  intestine,"  says  Professor  Chitten- 
den, "  is  a  much  more  important  part  of  the 
alimentary  tract "  (than  the  stomach) ;  "  it 
is  likewise  far  more  sensitive  to  changing 
conditions  than  the  stomach,  and  undoubt- 
edly one  function  of  the  latter  organ  is  to 
protect  the  intestine  and  preserve  it  from  in- 
sult. The  stomach  may  be  compared  to  a 
vestibule  or  reservoir,  capable  of  receiving 
without  detriment  moderately  large  amounts 

12  See  Lectures  of  Dr.  W.  B.  Cannon:  "  The  A.  B.— Z. 

of  Our  Own  Nutrition,"  pp.  285-388. 

73 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  food,  together  with  fluid,  in  different 
forms  and  combinations,  with  the  power  to 
hold  them  there  until  by  action  of  the  gastric 
juice  they  are  so  transformed  that  their  on- 
ward passage  into  the  intestine  can  be  per- 
mitted with  perfect  safety.  Then,  small  por- 
tions of  the  properly  prepared  material  may 
be  discharged  from  time  to  time  through  the 
pylorus  without  danger  of  overloading  the 
intestine,  and  in  a  form  capable  of  under- 
going rapid  and  complete  digestion.  Fur- 
ther, the  stomach  as  a  reservoir  is  very  useful 
in  bringing  everything  to  a  proper  and  con- 
stant temperature  before  allowing  its  entry 
into  the  intestine.  .  .  .  The  great  bulk  of  the 
digested  food  material  is  absorbed  from  the 
small  intestine,  and  there  are  two  pathways 
open  through  which  the  absorbed  material 
can  gain  access  to  the  blood.  The  one  path 
leads  directly  to  the  liver,  and  substances 
taking  this  course,  are  exposed  to  the  action 
of  this  organ,  before  they  enter  into  the  gen- 
eral circulation.  The  other  path  is  through 
the  lacteal  or  lymphatic  system,  and  con- 
stitutes a  roundabout  way  for  substances  to 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

enter  the  blood  stream,  since  they  must  first 
pass  through  the  thoracic  duct  before  enter- 
ing the  main  circulation.  As  a  general  truth, 
it  may  be  stated  that  fats  are  absorbed 
through  the  latter  channel,  while  carbo- 
hydrates and  proteids  follow  the  first  path. 
The  innumerable  blood  capillaries  in  the  villi 
of  the  intestine  take  up  the  products  result- 
ing from  the  digestion  of  proteids  and  carbo- 
hydrates, through  which  they  are  passed  into 
the  portal  vein,  and  thereby  distributed 
throughout  the  liver.  This  means  that  both 
carbohydrates  and  proteids — or  their  decom- 
position products — are  exposed  to  a  variety 
of  possible  changes  in  this  large  glandular 
organ,  before  they  can  enter  into  the  tissues 
of  the  body."  13 

The  residue  of  the  food  material  that 
reaches  the  large  intestine  is  made  up  chiefly 
of  waste-products,  which  are  more  or  less 
a  source  of  danger  to  the  body,  since,  before 
being  excreted,  they  are  attacked  by  bacteria 
and  broken  down  by  the  process  of  putrefac- 
tion into  poisonous  or  "  toxic  "  substances. 

13  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  30-45. 

75 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

These  substances,  passing  into  the  blood  and 
lymph  through  the  walls  of  the  intestine,  are 
distributed  throughout  the  entire  system, 
where  they  give  rise  to  the  condition  known 
as  "  auto-intoxication "  or  self -poisoning. 
Scientists  nowadays  are  giving  a  great  deal 
of  attention  to  this  phenomenon.  Elie  Met- 
chnikoff,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute  at  Paris, 
has  actually  suggested  the  possible  advan- 
tage of  removing  some  eighteen  feet  of  the 
intestine  by  surgical  operation  to  save  the 
body  from  the  evil  effects  of  the  decompos- 
ing waste  products  stored  in  its  convoluted 
folds;  or,  since  this  seems  hardly  a  practical 
measure,  the  drinking  of  sour  milk,  which,  it 
seems,  is  endowed  with  certain  properties 
that  are  capable  of  killing  off  the  intestinal 
bacteria.14  Physicians,  recognizing  the 
truth  of  Metchnikoff 's  claims  for  sour  milk, 
but  knowing  also  that  they  could  never  get 
their  patients  to  adopt  it  as  an  article  of  diet, 
have  learned  how  to  take  the  bacteria-killing 
principle  out  of  the  milk  and  put  it  into  cap- 

i*  Elie  Metchnikoff :  "  The  Nature  of  Man,"  p.  70.    G.  P. 
Putnam's  Sons,  New  York. 

76 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

sules,  that  can  be  administered  as  medicine. 
The  leaders  of  modern  medicine  and  modern 
physiology  alike  seem  to  be  impressed  with 
the  dangers  to  the  body  arising  from  the 
waste  products  in  the  lower  intestines  and 
with  the  necessity  of  finding  some  means  of 
doing  away  with  these  dangers. 

After  having  been  digested  and  absorbed, 
food  must  be  "  metabolized  " — that  is  to  say, 
built  up  into  living  tissue  or  broken  down 
into  excretory  products  with  liberation  of 
heat  and  energy. 

The  digested  food  material,  after  having 
been  absorbed  into  the  blood  and  lymph,  is 
circulated  throughout  the  entire  body.  As 
it  passes  along,  the  tissues  seize  upon  what- 
ever they  need  of  proteid,  carbohydrates  or 
fats — and  proceed  to  build  it  up  into  living 
tissue.  However,  even  after  the  tissues  have 
taken  up  all  the  materials  they  need  both 
for  repairs  and  for  growth,  a  certain  amount 
of  food  material  is  still  left  floating  about 
in  the  blood  and  lymph.  This  material  com- 
ing into  contact  with  the  oxygen  furnished 
to  the  blood  by  the  lungs,  is  "  oxydized  " — 

77 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

that  is  to  say  it  is  literally  burned  up,  and  as 
it  burns  it  gives  off  the  heat  and  energy 
that  result  from  any  form  of  combustion. 

The  first  of  these  processes  is  known  as 
"  anabolism,"  or  building  up,  and  the  sec- 
ond as  "  katabolism,"  or  breaking  down;  but 
they  are  both  comprehended  under  the 
broad  term  "metabolism  " — which  is  applied 
to  all  the  chemical  changes  that  take  place 
in  living  tissue. 

During  this  process  certain  decomposi- 
tion products  are  formed  which  must  be  ex- 
creted through  the  lungs,  skin  or  kidneys  or 
they  become  a  menace  to  the  well-being  of 
the  organism.  Professor  Chittenden  says, 
"  vThe  human  body  is  a  maelstrom  of  chemi- 
cal changes;  chemical  decompositions  are 
taking  place  continuously  at  the  expense  of 
the  proteids,  fats  and  carbohydrates  of  the 
tissues  and  of  the  food,  the  stored-up  energy 
of  these  organic  compounds  being  thereby 
transformed  into  the  active,  or  kinetic, 
forms  of  heat  and  motion;  while  carbon 
dioxide,  water,  urea  and  some  few  other 
nitrogenous  substances  are  being  continu- 

78 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ally  formed  as  the  normal  waste  products 
of  these  tissue  changes,  and  constantly  or 
intermittently  excreted.  In  other  words, 
the  body  is  in  a  perpetual  condition  of  chem- 
ical oscillation,  constantly  consuming  its 
own  substance,  rejecting  the  waste  products 
which  result,  and  giving  off  energy  in  the 
several  forms  characteristic  of  living 
beings."  15 

It  is  therefore  of  the  highest  importance 
that  the  body  should  maintain  an  even  bal- 
ance between  its  income  and  its  outgo.  If 
it  continually  pays  out  more  than  it  takes 
in,  its  stores  become  exhausted  and  it  starves. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  takes  in  more  than 
it  gives  out,  the  excess  of  food  material  is 
deposited  in  the  tissues  as  cumbersome  fat, 
or  else  the  whole  bodily  organism  is  whipped 
up  to  abnormal  exertions  to  get  the  over- 
supply  out  of  the  way.  In  either  event,  the 
body  suffers — from  overfeeding  even  more 
than  from  underfeeding. 

"  It  is  self -evident,"  says  Professor  Chit- 
tenden, "that  the  smallest  amount  of  food 

is  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  77-78. 
79 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

that  will  serve  to  keep  the  body  in  a  state  of 
high  efficiency  is  physiologically  the  most 
economical  and  hence  the  best  adapted  to 
the  needs  of  the  organism." 16 

For  many  years  the  dietary  standard  of 
Carl  Voit,  the  famous  Munich  physiologist, 
has  been  accepted  as  giving  the  minimum 
food  requirements  for  a  healthy  man.  This 
standard  calls  for  118  grams  or  4  ounces  of 
proteid,  56  grams  or  two  ounces  of  fat,  and 
500  grams  or  16f  ounces  of  carbohydrates 
with  a  total  fuel  value  of  3,055  large  calo- 
ries 17  daily  for  a  man  doing  moderate  work. 
For  a  man  doing  hard  work,  the  daily  re- 
quirement is  increased  to  145  grams  or  4§i 
ounces  of  proteid,  160  grams  or  5 J  ounces 
of  fat,  and  450  grams  or  15  ounces  of  car- 
bohydrates with  a  fuel  value  of  3,370  large 
calories. 

A  more  recent  investigator,  Professor  W, 
O.  Atwater,  places  the  daily  requirement 
for  proteid  at  125  grams  or  4<t  ounces,  with 

i6  Chittenden:    "Physiological    Economy    in    Nutrition," 
p.  8. 

17  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  98-99. 

80 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

sufficient  fats  and  carbohydrates  to  give  a 
total  fuel  value  of  3,500  large  calories  for 
a  man  doing  moderate  work;  while  for  a 
man  at  hard  work  he  increases  the  daily  diet 
to  150  grams  or  5  ounces  of  proteid,  with 
fats  and  carbohydrates  to  yield  a  total  fuel 
value  of  4,500  large  calories. 

Through  his  experiments  Professor  Chit- 
tenden has  shown  conclusively  that  mental 
and  bodily  vigor  are  maintained  and  even 
tend  to  be  greatly  increased  on  a  much 
smaller  quantity  of  all  classes  of  foods,  but 
of  proteid  foods  in  particular,  than  are 
called  for  by  these  standards.  Further- 
more, he  has  shown  that  not  only  is  there  no 
advantage  in  the  consumption  of  these 
quantities  of  food,  but  that  their  presence  in 
the  body  may  be  directly  injurious. 

In  the  first  place,  Professor  Chittenden's 
experiments  indicate  that,  contrary  to  gen- 
eral opinion,  the  body  cannot  lay  up  flesh — 
that  is,  lean  meat — by  the  consumption  of 
large  quantities  of  proteid.  "  It  is  generally 
considered  as  a  settled  fact,"  he  says,  "  that 
in  man  it  is  impossible  to  accomplish  any 

81 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

large  permanent  storing  or  deposition  of 
flesh  by  overfeeding.  Similarly,  it  is  under- 
stood, that  the  muscular  strength  of  man 
cannot  be  greatly  increased  by  an  excessive 
intake  of  food.  The  only  conditions  under 
which  there  is  ordinarily  any  marked  and 
permanent  flesh  deposition  are  such  as  are 
connected  with  the  regenerative  energy  of 
living  cells.  Thus,  as  van  Noorden  has 
stated,  an  accumulation  or  storing  of  tissue 
proteid  is  seen  especially  in  the  growing 
body,  where  new  cells  are  being  rapidly  con- 
structed ;  also  in  the  adult  where  growth  may 
have  ceased,  but  where  increased  muscular 
work  has  resulted  in  an  hypertrophy  or  en- 
largement of  the  muscular  tissue ;  and  lastly 
in  those  cases  where,  owing  to  previous  in- 
sufficient food  or  to  the  wasting  away  of  the 
body,  incidental  to  disease,  the  proteid  con- 
tent of  the  tissues  has  been  more  or  less  di- 
minished, and  consequently  an  abundance  of 
proteid  food  is  called  for  and  duly  utilized 
to  make  good  the  loss."  18 

The  experiments  seem  to  prove  conclu- 

i«  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  131. 
82 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

sively  that  the  intake  and  outgo  of  nitrogen 
— the  important  element  of  proteid — tend 
to  run  in  exactly  parallel  lines — that  is  to 
say,  that  "  increase  of  proteid  income  is  fol- 
lowed at  once  by  an  increase  in  the  metabol- 
ism of  proteid  with  a  corresponding  outgo 
of  nitrogen." 19 

"A  meal  rich  in  proteid  leads  at  once — 
within  a  few  hours," — he  says,  "  to  an  excre- 
tion of  urea  equivalent  to  full  50  per  cent, 
of  the  nitrogen  of  the  ingested  proteid, 
while  a  few  hours  later  finds  practically  all 
the  nitrogen  of  the  intake  eliminated  from 
the  body.  Further,  it  is  to  be  remembered 
that  in  a  general  way  this  occurs  no  matter 
what  the  condition  of  the  body  may  be  at 
the  time  and  no  matter  how  large  or  small 
the  amount  of  proteid  consumed.  In  other 
words,  there  is  practically  no  appreciable 
storing  of  nitrogen  or  proteid  for  future 
needs, — at  least  none  that  is  proportional  to 
the  increase  in  nitrogen  intake,  even  though 
the  body  be  in  a  condition  approximating  to 
nitrogen  starvation." 

19  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  151. 
83 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Therefore  all  but  the  very  small  quantity 
of  proteid  food  that  is  required  by  the  tis- 
sues for  development  or  repairs,  is  left  float- 
ing in  the  blood  along  with  the  other  food 
material  which  is  to  be  oxidized  for  the  fur- 
nishing of  heat  and  energy.  Professor 
Chittenden  questions  whether  this  can  be 
regarded  as  an  advantage.  "  We  all  recog- 
nize that  an  excessive  accumulation  of  fat 
is  distinctly  disadvantageous  to  the  welfare 
of  the  body,"  he  says,  "  and  there  is,  physi- 
ologically speaking,  equally  good  ground 
for  considering  that  the  storage  of  unorgan- 
ized proteid  in  amounts  beyond  all  possible 
requirements  of  the  body  may  be  equally 
undesirable.  Because  less  tangible  to  the 
eye,  the  accumulation  of  unnecessary  proteid 
is  not  so  easily  recognizable,  but  this  fact 
does  not  diminish  the  possible  danger  which 
such  accumulation  may  constitute." 20 

Formerly  it  was  thought  that  the  combus- 
tion of  proteid  matter  in  the  blood  was  the 
main  source  of  energy  for  muscle  work,  but 
it  is  now  known  that  while  proteid  matter  is 

20  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  131. 
84 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

capable  of  yielding  a  certain  amount  of  heat 
and  energy  in  oxidation,  it  is  inferior  for 
this  purpose  to  the  fats  and  carbohydrates, 
and  also  that  proteid,  in  burning,  yields  cer- 
tain deleterious  products  which  may  be  a 
serious  evil  to  the  body  and  which  throws 
upon  the  liver  and  kidneys  an  amount  of 
unnecessary  labor  that  is  likely  to  weaken 
and  throw  them  open  to  the  attacks  of 
disease. 

"Therefore,"  says  Professor  Chittenden, 
"  in  the  nourishment  of  the  body  for  vigor- 
ous muscular  work,  there  is  reason  in  a  diet 
which  shall  provide  an  abundance  of  carbo- 
hydrate and  fat ;  proteid  being  added  thereto 
only  in  amounts  sufficient  to  meet  the  or- 
dinary requirements  of  the  body  for  nitro- 
gen and  to  furnish,  it  may  be,  proper 
pabulum  for  the  development  of  fresh  mus- 
cle fibres,  where,  as  in  training,  effort  is 
being  made  to  strengthen  the  muscle  tissue 
and  so  enable  it  to  do  more  work.  Increase 
in  proteid  food  may  help  to  make  new  tissue, 
but  the  source  of  the  energy  of  muscle  work 
is  to  be  found  mainly  in  the  breaking  down 

85 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of    the    non-nitrogenous    materials,  carbo- 
hydrate and  fat."  21 

Furthermore,  Professor  Chittenden  also 
points  out  that  proteid  decomposition  prod- 
ucts are  a  constant  menace  to  the  well-being 
of  the  body.  "Proteid  foods,"  he  says, 
"when  oxidized,  yield  a  row  of  crystalline 
nitrogenous  products  which  ultimately  pass 
out  of  the  body  through  the  kidneys.  Prior 
to  their  excretion,  however,  these  products 
— frequently  spoken  of  as  toxins — float 
about  through  the  body  and  may  exercise 
more  or  less  of  a  deleterious  influence  upon 
the  system,  or,  being  temporarily  deposited, 
may  exert  some  specific  or  local  influence 
that  calls  for  their  speedy  removal.  Hence, 
the  importance  of  restricting  the  production 
of  these  bodies  to  the  minimal  amount,  ow- 
ing to  their  possible  physiological  effect  and 
the  part  they  are  liable  to  play  in  the  causa- 
tion of  many  diseased  conditions.  Further, 
the  elimination  of  excessive  amounts  of 
these  crystalline  nitrogenous  bodies  through 

21  Chittenden:  "Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  pp. 
16-17. 

86 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

the  kidneys  places  upon  these  organs  an  un- 
necessary burden  which  is  liable  to  endanger 
their  integrity  and  possibly  result  in  serious 
injury,  to  say  nothing  of  an  early  impair- 
ment of  function.22 

"  Gastro-intestinal  disturbance,  indiges- 
tion, intestinal  toxaemia,  liver  troubles,  bil- 
ious attacks,  gout,  rheumatism,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  many  other  ailments,  some  more  and 
some  less  serious,  are  associated  with  the 
habitual  overeating  of  proteid  food."23 

"  The  minimal  proteid  requirement  of  the 
healthy  man  under  ordinary  conditions  of 
life  is  far  below  the  generally  accepted  di- 
etary standards,  and  far  below  the  amount 
called  for  by  the  acquired  taste  of  the  gen- 
erality of  mankind,"  is  Professor  Chitten- 
den's conclusion.  "Expressed  in  different 
language,  the  amount  of  proteid  or  albumi- 
nous food  needed  daily  for  the  actual  physi- 
ological wants  of  the  body  is  not  more  than 
one-half  that  ordinarily  consumed  by  the 

22  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  269. 

23  Chittenden:  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
475. 

87 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

average  man.  Body- weight  (when  once  ad- 
justed to  the  new  level),  health,  strength, 
mental  and  physical  vigor,  and  endurance 
can  be  maintained  with  at  least  one-half  of 
the  proteid  food  ordinarily  consumed;  a 
kind  of  physiological  economy  which,  if 
once  entered  upon  intelligently,  entails  no 
hardship,  but  brings  with  it  an  actual  bet- 
terment of  the  physical  condition  of  the 
body.  It  holds  out  the  promise  of  greater 
physical  strength,  increasing  endurance, 
greater  freedom  from  fatigue,  and  a  condi- 
tion of  well-being  that  is  full  of  suggestion 
for  the  betterment  of  health."24 

For  a  man  of  average  weight,  Professor 
Chittenden  declares  that  60  grams  or  two 
ounces  of  proteid  food  a  day  are  ample  to 
meet  all  the  needs  of  the  body.  A  larger 
man  requires  somewhat  more,  since  it  is  ob- 
vious that  he  has  more  proteid  tissue  to 
nourish. 

"  The  long-continued  experiments  on 
many  individuals,  representing  different  de- 
grees of  activity,"  says  Professor  Chitten- 

24  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  227-228. 
88 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

den,  "  all  agree  in  indicating  that  equilibrium 
can  be  maintained  indefinitely  on  these 
smaller  quantities  of  food,  and  that  health 
and  strength  can  be  equally  well-preserved, 
to  say  nothing  of  possible  improvement. 
The  lifelong  experience  of  individuals  and 
of  communities  affords  sufficient  corrobora- 
tive evidence  that  there  is  perfect  safety  in 
a  closer  adherence  to  physiological  needs  in 
the  nutrition  of  the  body,  and  that  these 
needs,  so  far  as  proteid  food  is  concerned, 
are  in  harmony  with  the  theory  of  an  en- 
dogenous metabolism,  or  true  tissue  metabol- 
ism, in  which  the  necessary  proteid  exchange 
is  exceedingly  limited  in  quantity.  There 
are  many  suggestions  of  improvement  in 
bodily  health,  of  greater  efficiency  in  work- 
ing power,  and  of  greater  freedom  from 
disease,  in  a  system  of  dietetics  which  aims 
to  meet  the  physiological  needs  of  the  body 
without  undue  waste  of  energy  and  unneces- 
sary drain  upon  the  functions  of  digestion, 
absorption,  excretion,  and  metabolism  in 
general;  a  system  which  recognizes  that  the 
smooth  running  of  man's  bodily  machinery 

89 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

calls  for  the  exercise  of  reason  and  intelli- 
gence, and  is  not  to  be  intrusted  solely  to 
the  dictates  of  blind  instinct  or  to  the  lead- 
ings of  a  capricious  appetite." 25 

These  facts — particularly  the  ones  which 
represent  the  most  recent  discoveries  in  the 
physiology  of  nutrition — would  seem  to  con- 
stitute a  sound  scientific  basis  for  the  the- 
ories of  the  layman,  Mr.  Horace  Fletcher. 
If  it  is  true — and  there  seems  to  be  no  longer 
any  dispute  about  it — that  the  starches  and 
sugars  are  capable  of  being  almost  wholly 
digested  by  the  action  of  the  saliva  alone,  it 
is  clear  that  the  degree  in  which  these  foods 
can  be  utilized  by  the  body  must  be  in  pro- 
portion to  the  mouth-treatment  they  receive. 

In  his  insistence  upon  the  importance  of 
appetite  and  taste,  Mr.  Fletcher  seems  only 
to  have  forestalled  the  scientists.  Before 
Professor  Pavlov  was  awarded  the  Nobel 
Prize  for  discovering  that  primarily  it  was 
the  appetite  for  and  the  taste  of  food  that 
caused  the  secretion  of  gastric  juice  in  the 
stomach,  Mr.  Fletcher  was  being  laughed  at 

25  Fletcher :  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  144-145. 

90 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

for  his  appeals  to  his  f ellowmen  not  to  eat 
until  they  were  hungry  and  not  to  swallow 
their  food  until  they  had  extracted  every 
vestige  of  taste  from  it.  To-day  all  up-to- 
date  physicians  and  physiologists  recognize 
the  fact  that  the  thoroughness  with  which 
normal  digestion  is  effected  depends  pri- 
marily upon  the  keenness  of  the  desire  for 
food,  and  the  zest  with  which  it  is  eaten. 
While  the  fact  that  sick  people  without  ap- 
petites and  lunatics  with  insane  fears  of 
food  can  be  kept  alive  by  forced  feeding  in- 
dicates that  the  mere  presence  of  food  in 
the  stomach  will  cause  enough  gastric  secre- 
tion to  insure  some  sort  of  digestion,  it  does 
not  affect  the  argument  that  the  secretion 
necessary  to  perfect  digestion  is  secured  only 
through  the  operation  of  appetite  and  taste. 
Dogs  whose  stomachs  have  been  removed 
have  been  known  to  live  and  even  flourish, 
but  no  sane  person  would  conclude  from  this 
fact  that  he  could  get  along  just  as  well 
without  a  stomach  as  with  one. 

When  Mr.  Fletcher  launched  his  dictum: 
"  Never  eat  when  you  are  mad  or  sad ;  only 

91 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

when  you  are  glad,"  he  was  unknowingly 
applying  the  scientific  truth,  proved  by  Dr. 
Cannon  through  the  Rontgen  Ray  experi- 
ments previously  alluded  to,  that  pleasure 
accelerates  and  distress  inhibits  all  the  diges- 
tive secretions. 

The  observations  and  experiments  upon 
Mr.  Fletcher  have  given  convincing  demon- 
tration  that  his  method  of  eating  produces 
naturally  the  aseptic  condition  in  the  lower 
intestines  which  the  physicians  and  physi- 
ologists have  been  trying  to  effect  by  artifi- 
cial means.  His  excretions,  when  analyzed, 
were  found  to  be  made  up  of  an  inoffensive 
deposit  of  dry  cellulose  and  other  unabsorb- 
able  matter,  that  was  absolutely  free  from 
the  slightest  trace  of  bacterial  decomposi- 
tion, and  that  was  collected  in  the  lower  in- 
testines so  slowly  and  in  such  extremely 
small  quantities  as  to  require  release  only 
once  in  every  eight  or  ten  days. 

"  One  of  the  most  noticeable  and  signifi- 
cant results  of  economic  nutrition  gained 
through  careful  attention  to  the  mouth- 
treatment  of  food,  or  buccal-digestion,  is," 

92 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

says  Mr.  Fletcher,  "not  only  the  small 
quantity  of  waste  framed,  but  its  inoffen- 
-siveness.  Under  best  test-conditions  the 
ashes  of  economic  digestion  have  been  re- 
duced to  one -tenth  of  the  average  given  as 
normal  in  the  latest  text-books  on  physi- 
ology. The  economic  digestion-ash  forms 
in  pillular  shape,  and  when  released  these  are 
massed  together,  having  become  so  bunched 
by  considerable  retention  in  the  rectum. 
There  is  no  stench,  no  evidence  of  putrid 
bacterial  decomposition,  only  the  odour  of 
warmth,  like  warm  earth.  Test  examples  of 
excreta,  kept  for  more  than  five  years,  re- 
main inoffensive,  dry  up,  gradually  disin- 
tegrate and  are  lost." 26 

Last,  and  by  no  means  least,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  before,  Mr.  Fletcher's  practice 
seems  to  have  furnished  a  natural  and  auto- 
matic method  for  reducing  the  amounts  of 
food  demanded  by  the  appetite — particu- 
larly proteid  food — to  amounts  which  Pro- 
fessor Chittenden  has  shown  to  be  in  accord 
with  true  physiological  needs. 

26  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  176-177. 

9S 


CHAPTER  III 

Topics:  The  principles  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  theories. 
Appetite,  true  and  false.  Taste,  the  guardian  of 
the  digestive  tract.  Nature's  Food  Filter.  The  Art 
of  Mastication.  Inutility  of  Gladstone's  rule.  In- 
hibitive  effect  of  excess  of  attention.  Influence  of 
the  mental  and  emotional  state.  Objections  to  the 
system  considered.  Results.  Testimony  of  the 
rejuvenated. 

ALTHOUGH  Professor  Chittenden  has 
-*^  shown  that  restriction  of  diet  through 
the  use  of  the  reason  alone  is  productive  of 
great  good  to  the  human  organism,  the 
author's  belief  is  that  the  easiest,  surest,  and 
simplest  method  of  reaping  all  the  benefits 
of  the  new  discoveries  in  dietetics  is  through 
the  practice  of  Fletcherism.  The  average 
man  cannot  work  out  a  physiologic  ration 
for  himself,  nor  is  it  wholly  desirable  that  he 
should  attempt  to  do  so.  Although  there  is 
not  as  yet  sufficient  proof  to  satisfy  physi- 
ologists, from  a  strictly  scientific  point  of 
view,  it  does  seem  that  a  healthy,  normal 

94 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

appetite  is  practically  the  surest  guide  to  a 
properly  balanced  diet.  Perhaps  the  most 
valuable  feature  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  theories  is 
the  fact  that  it  restores  even  diseased  ap- 
petites to  a  healthy  and  normal  state.  The 
experiments  upon  Mr.  Fletcher  and  Dr.  Van 
Someren,  and  the  testimony  of  many  persons 
who  have  adopted  the  new  plan  of  diet, 
indicate  that  the  practice  of  prolonged  mas- 
tication automatically  reduces  the  food  de- 
manded by  the  appetite  to  the  quantities  and 
proportions  which  Professor  Chittenden  has 
shown  to  be  in  harmony  with  the  real  needs 
of  the  body. 

The  first  rule  for  the  practice  of  Mr. 
Fletcher's  theories  is,  therefore,  to  wait  for 
an  appetite  before  eating,  and  to  make  sure 
that  it  is  a  real  and  not  a  false  one. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  these 
two  things.  Normal  appetite  is  manifested 
in  a  specific  physical  sensation,  described 
literally  by  the  old-fashioned  phrase  "  a 
watering  of  the  mouth."  It  asserts  itself 
only  when  the  body  is  in  actual  need  of  fuel, 
or  material  for  growth  or  repairs.    False  ap- 

95 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

petite,  on  the  other  hand,  is  expressed  in  a 
general  feeling  of  restlessness — often  quite 
as  much  of  the  mind  as  of  the  body ;  or  in  a 
sense  of  actual  discomfort,  described  vari- 
ously as  emptiness,  faintness,  dizziness,  all- 
goneness,  etc.1 

None  of  these  sensations  is  an  indication 
of  a  real  need  of  the  body  for  food.  The 
restless  craving  is  due  merely  to  habit — 
the  fact  that  the  body  has  been  accustomed  to 
receiving  certain  quantities  of  food  at  cer- 
tain hours — and  if  food  is  not  available,  it 
soon  passes  away  and  does  not  reappear 
again  until  the  next  meal-time;  while  all  pos- 

i  "  Study  Normal  Appetite  and  heed  its  invitation.  It 
prescribes  wisely.  Its  mark  of  distinction,  to  differentiate 
it  from  False  Appetite,  is  *  watering  of  the  mouth '  for 
some  particular  thing." — Fletcher:  "  The  New  Glutton  or 
Epicure"  p.  107. 

False  Appetite  is  a  general  discontent  of  the  body,  in- 
definite of  description.  It  is  often  expressed  by  "  allgone- 
ness,"  or  stomach  craving,  and  calls  for  something,  ant- 
thing!  to  smother  the  discomfort  of  present  or  recent 
indigestion.    It  is  like  the  thirst  which  follows  a  debauch. 

"  Ignore  false  appetite,  and  wait  for  a  return  of  normal 
appetite.  It  will  come  as  soon  as  body  repairs  have  been 
effected  by  natural  agencies  and  more  material  is  required. 
No  one  was  ever  injured  by  intelligently  and  calmly  waiting 
for  an  appetite.    No  one  ever  starved  to  death  for  lack  of 

96 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

itively  disagreeable  sensations  arise  from  un- 
healthy conditions  somewhere  in  the  diges- 
tive tract.  Persons  who  complain  of  a  sense 
of  emptiness  in  the  stomach  are  suffering, 
not  from  lack  of  food,  but  from  habitual 
overeating.  Their  stomachs  have  become  dis- 
tended to  accommodate  abnormal  quantities ; 
and,  therefore,  as  soon  as  the  food  passes 
out  into  the  intestines,  the  walls  of  the 
stomach  collapse  and  give  rise  to  the  un- 
pleasant sensations  that  are  usually  inter- 
preted as  a  need  for  another  meal. 

appetite.  Most  human  ills  come  from  forcing  appetite, 
anticipating  appetite,  abuse  of  appetite  in  some  form. 

"  In  its  normal  state,  appetite  is  a  perfect  indicator  of 
the  bodily  need  of  nutriment  and  moisture.  Both  as  to 
quality  and  as  to  the  chemical  elements  required  at  the 
moment."— Fletcher:  "  The  A.  B.—Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutri- 
tion," p.  6. 

"  Appetite  craves  the  kind  of  nourishment  the  body 
needs,  invites  to  eating,  gives  enjoyment  during  the  whole 
time  needed  for  the  fluids  of  the  mouth  and  the  stomach  to 
do  their  part  of  the  digestive  process  ...  If  consulted 
and  obeyed,  Taste  and  Appetite  prevent  indigestible  matter 
from  entering  the  system  to  burden  and  clog  the  lower  in- 
testines, form  deposits  in  bone,  cartilage,  and  kidneys, 
inflame  the  tissues,  and  otherwise  create  conditions  favora- 
ble to  the  propagation  of  the  microbes  of  disease." — 
Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  152-153. 

97 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

The  perfectly  healthy  person  is  indiffer- 
ent to  the  thought  of  food  except  at  such 
times  as  the  organism  sends  in  a  sharp  and 
unmistakable  demand  for  fuel,  for  material 
for  growth  or  repairs.  As  has  been  said,  this 
demand  should  be  expressed,  not  by  the 
stomach,  but  by  the  mouth,  and  should  take 
the  form  of  a  keen  desire  for  some  particular 
article  of  food. 

As  far  as  possible  a  call  of  this  kind 
should  always  be  heeded,  because  it  means, 
according  to  Mr.  Fletcher,  that  the  organism 
is  in  actual  need  of  some  element  contained 
in  the  food  desired.  When  the  appetite  is 
not  absolutely  diseased,  the  wisest  as  well  as 
the  pleasantest  course  is  to  eat  what  one  likes 
and  as  much  as  one  likes. 

Here  someone  is  sure  to  protest  that  when- 
ever instinct  alone  is  followed  in  the  matter 
of  food,  it  always  has  led  and  always  will 
lead  to  gluttony.  In  support  of  their  argu- 
ment, they  instance  the  case  of  the  horse 
when  he  gets  into  the  oat-bin  or  the  cow  when 
she  gets  into  the  meal-barrel;  or,  turning  to 
history,  they  point  out  that  the  dietary  habits 

98 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  man  himself,  in  all  ages  and  among  all 
races,  have  been  far  from  temperate. 

It  seems  as  if  there  were  a  certain  justifica- 
tion for  this  belief.  It  is  undoubtedly  true 
that  gluttony  has  never  been  confined  to  the 
beasts.  In  Taine's  "  History  of  English 
Literature,"  for  instance,  we  find  the  follow- 
ing vivid  picture  of  the  voraciousness  of  our 
own  ancestors,  the  Saxons: 

"  Huge,  white  bodies,  cool-blooded,  with 
fierce  blue  eyes,  reddish  flaxen  hair ;  ravenous 
stomachs,  filled  with  meat  and  cheese,  heated 
by  strong  drinks;  of  a  cold  temperament, 
slow  to  love,  homestayers,  prone  to  brutal 
drunkenness.  .  .  . 

'  They  are  more  gluttonous,  carving  their 
hogs,  filling  themselves  with  flesh,  swallow- 
ing down  deep  draughts  of  mead,  ale,  spiced 
wines,  all  the  strong  coarse  drinks  which  they 
can  procure,  and  so  they  are  cheered  and 
stimulated.  .  .  . 

"  The  ancient  historians  tell  us  that  they 
had  a  great  and  coarse  appetite.  .  .  .  Henry 
of  Huntingdon,  in  the  twelfth  century, 
lamenting  the  ancient  hospitality,  says  that 

99 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

the  Norman  kings  provided  their  courtiers 
with  only  one  meal  a  day,  while  the  Saxon 
kings  provided  four.  To  shout,  to  drink, 
to  caper  about,  to  feel  their  veins  heated  and 
swollen  with  wine,  to  hear  and  see  around 
them  the  riot  of  the  orgy,  this  was  the  first 
need  of  the  barbarians.  The  heavy  human 
brute  gluts  himself  with  sensations  and  with 
noises."  2 

But  after  all,  is  it  the  workings  of  natural 
appetite  that  we  see  pictured  here?  Is  it  not 
rather  greed — man's  passionate  desire  to 
get,  reinforced  by  his  love  of  pleasure — 
manifesting  itself  in  a  wild  celebration  of 
its  emancipation  from  the  checks  originally 
imposed  upon  it  by  nature? 

It  must  be  remembered  that  food  was 
available  to  primitive  man  only  in  an  ex- 
tremely inacessible  form,  or  at  the  expense 
of  hard  work.  The  berries,  nuts,  roots, 
grains,  and  saps  upon  which  he  was  forced 
to  subsist  for  long  periods  of  time  Were 
often  scarce,  and  furthermore,  the  nutri- 

2  H.  A.  Taine:  "  History  of  English  Literature."    Henry- 
Holt  and  Company,  New  York. 

100 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ment  had  to  be  extracted  from  them  by 
means  of  a  jaw  treatment  before  which  even 
a  Fletcherite  would  quail.  Animal  food  was 
even  more  difficult  to  obtain  because  of  the 
inadequacy  of  the  primitive  weapons  of  the 
chase.  The  primitive  man  was  restrained 
perforce  from  eating  before  the  physical 
sensation  of  appetite  had  asserted  itself,  be- 
cause, in  the  case  of  vegetable  food,  he  never 
could  get  enough,  and  in  the  case  of  animal 
food,  a  feast  was  won  only  at  the  expense  of 
exertion  that  in  itself  was  sufficient  to  create 
an  appetite.  The  perpetual  scarcity  of  food 
implanted  in  the  race  those  powerful  im- 
pulses to  eat  as  much  as  possible  that  we  see 
surviving  to-day  in  civilized  man.  When 
man's  increasing  power  over  nature  gave 
him  access  to  increasingly  large  quantities 
of  food,  it  was  inevitable  that  this  old  in- 
stinct, born  of  the  time  when  he  could  never 
get  enough  and  nourished  by  his  desire  for 
pleasure,  should  assert  itself  and  lead  him 
into  excess. 

However,  the  unbridled  gratification  of 
this  impulse  brought  its  own  punishment. 

101 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Centuries  of  excess  in  eating  imposed  upon 
mankind,  not  only  disease  and  premature  old 
age,  but  the  curse  of  satiety.  When  man 
fell  into  the  practice  of  eating  for  pleasure 
alone,  he  found  that  his  pleasure  was  gone. 
Now,  therefore,  he  is  beginning  to  learn  that 
he  can  win  back  the  old  primitive  delight  in 
eating  only  by  waiting  for  the  old  physical 
need  for  food.  For  the  natural  checks  im- 
posed upon  the  savage,  he  is  beginning  to 
substitute  the  checks  of  reason  and  intelli- 
gence. He  has  realized  at  last  that  he  must 
ignore  the  promptings  of  greed  and  direct 
his  attention  solely  to  satisfying  the  physical 
sensations  of  true  appetite.  In  doing  this 
he  has  developed  a  new  instinct,  which,  for 
want  of  a  better  name,  may  be  called  the  in- 
stinct for  physiological  economy,  since  it 
manifests  itself  in  a  keen  desire  to  save  the 
body  from  the  labor  of  taking  care  of  un- 
necessary quantities  of  food. 

In  acquiring  this  instinct  he  has  been 
helped  greatly  by  the  sense  of  taste.  As 
natural  appetite  is  man's  surest  guide  as  to 
when  to  eat,  taste  is  his  guide  as  to  what  and 

102 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

how  much  to  eat.  Taste,  asserts  Mr. 
Fletcher,  is  the  infallible  sign  by  which  we 
may  know  that  the  body  needs  and  can  use 
the  food  we  are  sending  into  it.  When  food 
has  no  taste  the  body  does  not  need  it  and 
cannot  use  it.  When  food  tastes  bad,  it 
is  bad. 
,  "There  is  now  no  doubt,"  says  Mr, 
Fletcher,  "but  that  taste  is  evidence  of  a 
chemical  process  going  on  that  should  not 
be  interrupted  or  transferred  to  the  interior 
of  the  body. 

"  Taste  is  evidence  of  nutrition. 

"Whatever  does  not  taste,  such  as  glass 
or  stone,  is  not  nutritious. 

""  Taste  is  excited  by  the  dissolving  of 
food  in  the  mouth,  and  while  it  lasts  a  neces- 
sary process  of  preparation  for  digestion  is 
going  on. 

"  The  juices  of  the  mouth  have  the  power 
to  transform  any  food  that  excites  taste  into 
a  substance  suitable  for  the  body. 

.  "Nothing  that  is  tasteless,  except  water> 
should  be  taken  into  the  stomach. 

"  If  we  swallow  only  the  food  which  ex- 

103 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

cites  the  appetite  and  is  pleasing  to  the  sense 
of  taste,  and  swallow  it  only  after  the  taste 
has  been  extracted  from  it,  removing  from 
the  mouth  the  tasteless  residue,  complete 
and  easy  digestion  will  be  assured  and  per- 
fect health  maintained.3 

"  Taste,"  he  adds,  "  is  the  faithful  servant 
of  appetite;  the  sentinel  of  the  stomach,  of 
the  intestines,  of  the  tissues  and  of  the  brain, 
whose  guidance  and  warning,  if  heeded,  will 
give  heretofore  unknown  enjoyment  of  eat- 
ing, and  at  the  same  time  perfect  health  and 
a  maximum  of  strength.4 

"  How  many  men,"  asks  Mr.  Fletcher, 
"  can  honestly  say  that  they  taste  their  food? 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  taste  the  sauce  and 
bolt  their  meat;  they  taste  the  butter  and 
swallow  their  bread  whole;  they  taste  the 
sugar  and  their  pie  goes  down  at  a  gulp ;  as 
for  liquids,  it  may  be  safety  said  that  the 
average  man  never  achieves  so  much  as  a 
speaking  acquaintance  with  his  drinks — his 
coffee,  his  tea,  his  high-balls,  his  cocktails, 

3  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  109-110. 
*  Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  152. 

104 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

his  wine  and  his  beer.  If  he  did — and  this  is 
no  theory,  but  a  well-authenticated  fact — 
he  would  have  no  such  thing  as  a  tea  or 
coffee  habit,  and  he  not  only  never  would 
be,  but  never  could  be  a  drunkard.  In  order 
to  give  the  monitor  of  the  mouth  a  chance  to 
do  its  work,  the  solid  foods  must  be  divided 
into  small  particles  by  the  teeth,  and  botK 
solids  and  liquids  must  pass  slowly  and  in 
small  quantities  over  the  taste-buds  on  the 
tongue  and  both  must  be  thoroughly  satur- 
ated with  saliva.  This  means  mastication — ■ 
not  the  '  thorough  chewing '  of  parental  com- 
mand and  medical  advice — but  mastication 
to  a  point  of  such  completeness  that  the  food 
is  literally  tasted  out  of  existence  and  taken 
into  the  stomach  by  an  involuntary  swallow- 
ing impulse." 5 

According  to  Mr.  Fletcher's  theories,  if  a 
man  follows  this  practice — not  with  rigid 
conscientiousness,  but  with  zest  and  enjoy- 
ment— he  need  never  go  to  a  doctor  to  find 
out  what  is  "good  for  him"  to  eat.    Any- 

s  Frances  Maule  Bjorkman:  The  Scrap  Book,  New  York, 
November,  1907. 

105 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

thing  that  tastes  good  is  good.  If  he  pays 
attention  to  the  physical  sensations  in  his 
mouth  and  retains  every  morsel  of  food  as 
long  as  it  continues  to  minister  to  these  sen- 
sations, he  can  never  eat  anything  that  is 
bad  for  him,  never  overeat  and,  if  he  treats 
liquids  in  the  same  way,  he  can  never  over- 
drink. 

In  fact,  Mr.  Fletcher  contends  that  in 
time  he  will  develop  in  his  throat  a  contriv- 
ance that  will  throw  back  into  his  mouth  any- 
thing he  attempts  to  swallow  that  has  not 
first  been  made  perfectly  acceptable  to  the 
body  by  thorough  mastication.  Mr.  Fletcher 
has  given  to  this  contrivance  the  picturesque 
and  suggestive  name  of  "  Nature's  Food 
Filter."  Dr.  Van  Someren  describes  its 
workings  as  follows: 

"  Food,  as  it  is  masticated,  slowly  passes 
to  the  back  of  the  mouth,  and  collects  in  the 
glosso-epiglottidean  folds,  where  it  remains 
in  contact  with  the  mucous  membrane  con- 
taining the  sensory  end-organs  of  taste.  If 
it  be  properly  reduced  by  the  saliva  it  is 
allowed  to  pass  the  faucet — a  truly  involun- 

106 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

tary  act  of  deglutition  occurring.  Let  the 
food,  however,  be  too  rapidly  passed  back 
to  these  folds,  i.  e.,  before  complete  reduc- 
tion takes  place,  and  the  reflex  muscular 
movement  above  referred  to  occurs  .  .  . 
The  late  contents  of  the  glosso-epiglottidean 
folds  are  returned  to  the  front  of  the  mouth 
for  further  reduction  by  the  saliva  prepara- 
tory to  deglutition."  6 

"  The  Food  Filter,  when  rightly  perform- 
ing its  protective  function,  is  impervious  to 
anything  except  pure  water  at  the  right  tem- 
perature for  admission  to  the  stomach  and 
to  nutriment  which  has  been  properly  dis- 
solved and  chemically  converted  by  saliva- 
tion (mixture  with  saliva)  into  a  substance 
suitable  for  further  digestion."7 

The  tasteless  residue  that  is  rejected  by 
the  Food  Filter  is  invariably  composed  of 
matter  that  is  unprofitable  if  not  actually  in- 
jurious to  the  body,  and  should  therefore, 
be  rejected.  To  the  objection  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  remove  this  residue   from  the 

6  Fletcher:  "A.  B—  Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutrition,"  pp.  32-33. 

7  Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  110-111. 

107 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

mouth  without  violating  the  canons  of  good 
form,  Mr.  Fletcher  replies : 

"Do  you  not  remove  cherry  pits,  grape 
skins,  the  shell  of  lobster,  bone,  etc.,  when 
you  encounter  them?  Then  why  not  remove 
the  fibrous  matter  found  in  tough,  lean  meat, 
the  woody  fibre  of  vegetables,  or  anything 
rejected  by  instinctive  desire  to  discard  it 
after  taste  has  been  exhausted,  and  which  is 
a  protection  provided  by  beneficent  Na- 
ture? ...  If  fibre  is  found  in  the  food, 
it  can  be  put  upon  the  fork  in  the  same  man- 
ner that  a  cherry  pit  is  usually  handled  and 
transferred  to  the  plate  without  obser- 
vation. 

"  There  is  nothing  more  pronounced  than 
.  .  .  the  impulsive  desire  to  spit  out  of  the 
mouth  anything  that  seems  unprofitable  to 
the  senses. 

"  Muscles  have  been  provided  for  this  pur- 
pose that  are  more  facile  than  those  of  an 
elephant's  proboscis  .  .  .If  you  acquire 
the  habit  of  practicing  only  involuntary 
swallowing  in  eating  you  will  find  that  these 
muscles  are  very  discriminating,  and  will  in- 

108 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

stinctively  assist  in  the  rejection  of  unprofit- 
able matter. 

"  Their  sense  of  touch  will  soon  discrimin- 
ate against  unprofitable  food  even  when  the 
sense  of  taste  is  fooled  by  some  alluring 
sauce  or  condiment."  8 

"When  food  is  filtered  into  the  body 
after  having  become  liquefied  and  made  al- 
kaline, or  at  least  neutral,  by  saliva,"  con- 
tinues Mr.  Fletcher,  "  the  appetite  is  given 
a  chance  to  measure  the  need  of  the  body 
and  to  discriminate  against  excess.  As  soon 
as  the  point  of  complete  saturation  of  any 
one  deficiency  is  reached,  the  appetite  is  cut 
off,  as  short  as  possible  to  imagine,  with  no 
indication  of  stomach  fullness. 

"  The  appetite  satisfied  by  the  infiltering 
process  is  a  sweetly  appeased  appetite,  calm, 
rested,  contented,  normal.  There  is  no 
danger  from  the  flooding  of  intemperance, 
for  there  is  not  even  toleration  of  excess 
either  of  more  food,  or  more  drink,  and  this 
contented  appetite  will  remain  in  the  condi- 
tion of  contentment  until  another  need  has 

a  Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  117-123. 

109 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

really  been  earned  by  evaporation  or  destruc- 
tive katabolism."  9 

"  The  normal  sensitiveness  of  taste  can  be 
recovered,"  he  declares,  "  if  already  lost,  in 
the  course  of  a  week,  or  two  weeks  at  most, 
by  means  of  the  stimulating  and  regenerat- 
ing influence  of  natural  body  repair,  if  the 
method  of  taste  and  appetite  cultivation  re- 
commended in  this  book  is  followed."  10 

As  Professor  Irving  Fisher  has  said,  "  It 
is  fortunate  for  the  ordinary  man  that  the 
taste  instinct  can  be  so  easily  revived,  for  it 
would  be  out  of  his  power  to  prescribe  for 
himself  each  day  the  exact  quantity  of  food 
necessary  for  that  day's  work — the  proper 
proportions  of  proteid,  fat,  starch  and  sugar, 
and  the  amounts  needed  of  the  fifteen  odd 
mineral  salts,  to  say  nothing  of  acids  and 
enzymes,  for  each  of  which  only  one  definite 
amount  is  ideally  correct. 

"  The  loss  of  the  delicate  food  instinct  in 
the  ordinary  man  has  been  aggravated  not 
only  by  the  habit  of  food  bolting,  but  the 

»  Fletcher:    "A".  B—  Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutrition,"  p.  95. 
10  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  p.  153. 

110 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

habit  of  eating  what  is  set  before  us  by 
others,  instead  of  choosing  our  food  for  our- 
selves. In  the  experiment  at  Yale  none  of 
the  men  were  served  anything  until  they  had 
looked  over  the  menu  and  made  their  own 
choice.  While  this  procedure  is  not  always 
practicable  at  home  or  in  boarding  houses, 
it  is  nevertheless  within  the  power  of  the 
ordinary  individual  to  use  his  power  of  choice 
more  than  he  does  at  present.  If  he  will  do 
so,  he  will  usually  be  rewarded  in  a  few 
months  by  reaching  a  condition  of  physical 
and  mental  efficiency  of  which  he  had 
scarcely  dared  to  dream.  The  instinct  to 
eat  was  given  us  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
us  to  adapt  our  daily  food  to  our  varying 
daily  needs.  The  realization  that  we  have  let 
this  valuable  instinct  atrophy  by  disuse  is  the 
needed  incentive  to  restore  it  to  activity."  " 
In  adopting  the  practice  of  Mr.  Fletcher's 
system,  however,  it  is  well  not  to  be  too  con- 
scientious in  regard  to  the  mere  mechanical 
act  of  chewing.    "  Excess  of  attention,"  says 

11  Professor  Irving  Fisher:  The  Independent,  New  York, 
August,  190T. 

Ill 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby,  "interferes  as  mark- 
edly as  carelessness  with  the  performance 
of  many  subconscious  or  semi-automatic 
acts."  12 

There  is  no  doubt  that  too  much  thought 
directed  upon  the  act  of  eating  has  a  tend- 
ency to  inhibit  the  digestive  secretions.  It 
is  a  perfectly  healthy  instinct  that  prompts 
the  average  man  to  think  as  little  about  his 
food  as  possible,  and  to  demand  only  that  it 
taste  good. 

"  He  who  counts  his  chews  or  makes  hard 
work  of  mastication,  by  attending  only  to 
the  mechanical  act  of  chewing,"  says  Prof. 
Irving  Fisher,  "  will  receive  more  harm  than 
good  from  the  practice.  The  food  should  be 
chewed  and  relished  with  no  thought  of  swal- 
lowing. There  should  be  no  more  effort  to 
prevent  than  to  force  swallowing.  It  will  be 
found  that  if  we  attend  only  to  the  agreeable 
task  of  extracting  the  flavors  from  our  food, 
Nature  will  take  care  of  the  swallowing, 
which  will  become,  like  breathing,  involun- 

12  Dr.  C.  W.  Saleeby:  "Worry,  the  Disease  of  the  Age," 
p.  34. 

112 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

tary.  It  will  also  be  found  that  taste  will 
grow  more  discriminating  and  can  be  de- 
pended upon  to  guide  us,  both  in  respect  to 
the  kind  of  food,  and  also  to  the  amount."  13 

"  Above  all  things  don't  strain  to  be  care- 
ful. Strain  inhibits — paralyzes — all  of  the 
glandular  functions  and  deranges  the  nerv- 
ous nicety  of  adjustment.  Just  eat  slowly, 
deliberately,  small  morsels,  and  sip  and  taste 
small  quantities  of  liquids  and  observe  what 
happens.14 

"  Numbers  of  mastications  .  .  .  are  no 
guide  to  be  relied  upon. 

"  Gladstone's  dictum.  '  Chew  each  morsel 
of  food  at  least  thirty-two  times,'  was  of 
little  value  except  as  a  general  suggestion. 
Some  morsels  of  food  will  not  resist  thirty- 
two  mastications,  while  others  will  defy 
seven  hundred."  15 

Therefore,  needless  to  say,  there  should 
be  no  attempt  to  "  count  the  chews."  Even 
Gladstone  did  not  carry  out  in  his  own  case 

is  Professor  Irving  Fisher:  The  Independent,  New  York, 
August,  1907. 

14  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  p.  126. 
is  Fletcher;  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  p.  127. 

113 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

his  advice  to  his  children  to  chew  each  mouth- 
ful thirty-two  times.  Dr.  Hubert  Higgins 
says 16  that  an  interested  observer  in  the 
strangers'  gallery  at  a  public  dinner  in  Cam- 
bridge took  pains  to  count  the  jaw  move- 
ments of  the  great  statesman  to  each  mouth- 
ful of  food,  and  found  that  the  number  was 
usually  as  many  as  sixty  or  seventy.  Even 
if  counting  the  chews  did  not  have  this  tend- 
ency to  check  the  flow  of  the  digestive  juices, 
the  practice  could  be  of  no  value  as  a  guide 
to  the  amount  of  chewing  required  because 
each  food  demands  a  mouth-treatment  all  its 
own.  Furthermore,  because  of  the  differ- 
ence in  the  supply  and  the  alkalinity  of  the 
saliva  in  individuals,  no  two  persons  can  be 
sure  of  disposing  of  a  morsel  in  the  same 
number  of  mastications.  "  One  person," 
says  Mr.  Fletcher,  "  may  dispose  of  a  morsel 
of  bread  in  thirty  mastications  so  that  the 
last  vestige  of  it  has  disappeared  by  involun- 
tary process  into  the  stomach.  Another  per- 
son, of  similar  general  health  appearance, 
selecting  as  nearly  as  possible  an  equal  mor- 

i«  Dr.  Hubert  Higgins:  "  Humaniculture,"  p.  101. 

114 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

sel  of  bread,  may  require  fifty  acts  of  masti- 
cation before  the  morsel  has  disappeared. 
.  .  .  The  dissimilarity  lies  in  the  difference 
of  the  copiousness  and  strength  of  the  secre- 
tions at  the  time  of  trial."  17 

It  should  be  noted  in  this  connection,  how- 
ever, that,  just  as  the  strength  of  the  arm  is 
increased  by  exercise,  so  the  vigorous  use  of 
the  mechanism  of  mastication  increases  its 
efficiency.  The  secretion  of  saliva  is  not  only 
increased,  but  is  rendered  more  alkaline. 
Despite  the  popular  idea,  Mr.  Fletcher  him- 
self is  a  fast  eater.  Having  made  a  vigorous 
and  persistent  use  of  his  masticatory  appara- 
tus for  ten  years,  he  is  now  able  to  keep  pace 
with  the  average  eater  and  yet  fulfill  all  the 
conditions  of  complete  mastication.  The 
actual  time  that  he  spent  over  his  two  daily 
meals  during  the  Yale  tests  was  from  twelve 
to  fifteen  minutes  each.  From  this  it  will 
readily  be  seen  that  there  are  no  grounds  for 
the  common  belief  that  it  is  necessary  for  a 
follower  of  Mr.  Fletcher  to  spend  an  un- 
usual length  of  time  over  his  meals. 

it  Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  125-126. 

115 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

And  right  here  it  should  be  emphasized 
that  all  that  has  been  said  in  regard  to  the 
importance  of  mastication  and  insalivation 
applies  to  fluid  as  well  as  to  solid  food.  As 
Mr.  Fletcher  points  out,  liquid  food  is  a 
form  of  sustenance  invented  by  civilization 
that  Mother  Nature  did  not  count  with  when 
she  planned  the  human  body.  The  only  fluid 
food  provided  by  Nature  is  milk,  the  natural 
method  of  procuring  which  is  by  sucking,  a 
process  exactly  analogous  to  chewing.  The 
wisdom  of  this  arrangement  can  well  be  un-* 
derstood  when  it  is  remembered  that  milk, 
when  taken  into  the  stomach,  is  transformed 
into  a  thick  curd,  and  must  undergo  diges- 
tion as  a  solid.  Naturally,  the  stomach  can 
handle  a  number  of  these  small  curds  much 
more  easily  than  it  can  one  large  one. 

In  order  that  soups  and  beverages  may  be 
submitted  to  the  digestive  action  of  saliva, 
it  is  necessary  that  they  should  be  given  care- 
ful mouth  treatment  before  being  swallowed 
into  the  stomach.  "  Food  (drunk  without 
mixing  it  with  saliva)  is  a  sort  of  nutritive 
self-abuse,"  says  Mr.   Fletcher,   "  and  the 

116 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

only  way  to  avoid  the  ill  effect  is  to  give  it 
the  same  chance  to  encounter  saliva  that  the 
constituent  ingredients  would  have  had  in  a 
more  solid  state.  .  .  .  Anything  that  has 
taste,  even  soup,  wine,  spirits  or  whatsoever 
is  tried,  will  resist  numerous  mastications  be- 
fore being  absorbed  by  Nature's  Food 
Filter.  Above  all  things,  milk,  wines,  etc., 
should  be  sipped  and  tasted  to  the  limit  of 
compulsory  swallowing."  18 

Mr.  Fletcher  declares  (and  the  testimony 
of  all  the  people  who  have  tested  his  theory 
uphold  him) ,  that  when  tea,  coffee,  and  alco- 
holic liquors  are  thoroughly  insalivated  be- 
fore being  swallowed,  the  appetite  will  re- 
fuse to  receive  them  except  in  extremely 
small  quantities,  if  it  does  not  refuse  to  re- 
ceive them  at  all. 

"When  the  body  will  tolerate  spirits 
tasted  into  it — not  poured  into  it — at  all," 
says  Mr.  Fletcher,  "  which  is  not  often  when 
the  nutrition  is  normal  (only  in  damp  or 
cold  weather,  as  a  general  thing  and  then, 
in  the  case  of  the  writer,  only  at  rare  inter- 

18  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  p.  112. 
117 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

vals,  say  two  or  three  times  a  year),  the 
spirit  will  mix  quickly  with  the  saliva  and 
become  neutralized  sufficiently  to  excite  the 
swallowing  impulse.  Continue  sipping  the 
spirit  for  a  time  and  you  will  note  that 
there  comes  a  point  where  the  saliva  and 
the  spirit  do  not  mix,  do  not  neutralize; 
the  mouth  becomes  unduly  full  of  liquid 
wdthout  any  relaxation  or  invitation  of  the 
swallowing  impulse,  and  the  really  instinc- 
tive inclination  will  be  to  spit  it  out.  It 
is  a  clear  indication  that  the  body  toleration 
has  been  fully  taxed ;  there  is  no  longer  any 
bodily  need  for  alcohol — in  fact,  there  is  no 
longer  natural  toleration — and  the  secretion 
sent  down  into  the  mouth  is  evidently  mu- 
cous for  a  washing-out  process,  and  is  not 
alkaline  saliva  for  assisting  in  a  utilization 
function. 

"  It  will  be  difficult  to  convince  the  advo- 
cate of  total  abstinence  that  any  whiskey  can 
be  taken  in  a  seemingly  harmless  form,  but 
it  is  true  that  thorough  insalivation  of  beer, 
wine  or  spirits,  until  disappearance  by  in- 
voluntary swallowing,  robs  them  of  their 

118 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

power  to  intoxicate,  partly  because  appetite 
will  tolerate  but  little. 

"  As  a  matter  of  fact,  whiskey  taken  in 
this  analytical  way  is  a  sure  means  of  break- 
ing up  desire  for  it,  and  is  an  excellent  pro- 
tection in  drinking  as  well  as  in  eating. 
Many  of  our  test  subjects  have  been  steady 
and  some  heavy  drinkers,  but  persistent  at- 
tention to  Buccal-Thoroughness  has  cured 
all  of  them  of  any  desire  for  alcohol,  and  in 
time  surely  leads  to  complete  intolerance  of 
it."  19 

There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  contro- 
versy among  those  who  follow  Mr.  Fletcher's 
practice  as  to  whether  conversation  at  meals 
is  likely  to  interfere  with  the  process  of 
mastication.  Mr.  Fletcher  himself  declares 
that  it  does  not.  He  is  a  generous  enter- 
tainer and  is  extremely  fond  of  having  his 
friends  with  him  at  table. 

"  It  is  true,"  says  Mr.  Fletcher,  "that  one 
cannot  converse  freely  with  large  morsels  of 
food  in  the  mouth.     It  is  also  true  that  it  is 

is  Fletcher:  "  A.  B.— Z.  of  Our  Own  Nutrition,"  pp.  93- 
94;  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  128-129. 

119 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

nothing  less  than  a  gluttonous  custom  to 
greedily  take  a  big  mouthful  of  food,  and, 
if  accosted  with  a  question,  to  bolt  it  in  order 
to  answer. 

"  It  will  be  found  easy  to  carry  on  conver- 
sation without  disagreeable  interruptions 
and  yet  follow  Nature's  demands  in  prop- 
erly masticating  food  by  taking  small  mor- 
sels into  the  mouth.  It  will  be  found  also 
to  add  to  the  real  pleasure  of  eating,  and 
eventually  will  become  a  habit  by  choice."  20 

On  the  other  side,  Dr.  Daniel  S.  Sager 
says :  "  Despite  the  commonly  accepted  idea, 
conversation  is  apt  to  interfere  seriously  with 
the  proper  mastication  of  food  and  to  dimin- 
ish the  pleasure  of  eating,  which  should  be 
all-absorbing  for  the  time.  The  Hindu 
sages  of  antiquity  considered  eating  a  kind 
of  sacrament  to  be  engaged  in  abstemiously 
and  silently.  The  Pythagorean  sect  ate  in 
profound  silence.  Shakers  never  speak  at 
the  table,  except  in  receiving  or  in  passing 
food.  At  all  events,  whether  the  meal  is 
eaten  with  merry  conversation  or  with  Qua- 

20  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  p.  119. 
120 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ker-like  silence,  the  essential  thing  is  com- 
plete mastication  of  the  food.  Throughout, 
one  should  be  intent  upon  the  pleasure  of 
eating  and  the  gratification  of  the  sense  of 
taste.  ...  If  one  would  enjoy  food  to 
its  fullest  possible  extent,  it  is  accomplished 
to  perfection  by  a  concentration  of  the  mind 
upon  the  tip  and  sides  of  the  tongue,  and 
by  thinking  and  feeling  how  extraordinarily 
good  the  food  tastes." 21 

To  most  people  "  mirth  and  merry  com- 
pany "  at  table  are  too  valuable  as  aids  to 
digestion  to  be  lightly  banished;  and  if,  as 
Mr.  Fletcher  says,  the  food  is  taken  in 
small  mouthfuls,  there  seems  to  be  no  reason 
why  they  should  not  indulge  their  desires 
in  this  respect  as  much  as  they  wish. 

The  adoption  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  system 
results  immediately  and  invariably  in  cer- 
tain marked  changes  in  the  dietary  habits. 
If  a  man  conscientiously  "  waits  for  an  ap- 
petite," he  will  find  that  it  registers  a  de- 
mand for  food  not  more  than  twice  a  day. 
As  an  ordinarily  good  digestive  apparatus 

2iSager:  "Art  of  Living  in  Good  Health,"  pp.  24-25. 

121 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

cannot  dispose  of  an  average  meal  in  less 
than  six  hours,  and  as  the  digestive  appara- 
tus should  be  permitted  a  certain  amount  of 
rest,  it  would  seem  that  there  was  every  rea- 
son why  the  prompting  of  the  appetite 
should  be  followed.  Crato,  one  of  the 
physicians  of  antiquity,  said,  "Eat  but  twice 
a  day  and  put  seven  hours  betwixt  dinner 
and  supper ; "  and  since  his  time  the  wisest 
physicians  of  all  periods  have  been  pleading 
with  their  patients  not  to  send  food  into 
their  stomachs  until  the  previous  meal  had 
been  disposed  of. 

In  most  cases,  the  meal  most  easily  elim- 
inated is  breakfast.  In  the  early  morning 
when  the  body  has  been  lying  inert  for  sev- 
eral hours,  with  the  utilization  of  heat  and 
energy  and  the  breaking  down  of  tissue  re- 
duced to  a  minimum,  there  can  be  no  genu- 
ine need  for  food.  The  common  declaration 
of  the  average  man  that  he  has  to  have  a 
square  meal  as  soon  as  he  gets  up  "to  work 
on  "  is  not  based  on  physiological  principles. 
It  is  obvious  that  no  man  works  on  the  food 
that  is  in  his  stomach.     Food  in  the  stom- 

122 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ach,  or  in  any  other  part  of  the  digestive 
tract,  takes  energy  rather  than  gives  it. 
Food  becomes  available  only  when  it  has 
been  digested  and  assimilated. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  doubt  that  the 
heavy  American  breakfast  is  a  most  un- 
wholesome institution.  If  any  food  is  to  be 
taken  at  all  in  the  morning  it  should  be  lim- 
ited to  the  Continental  breakfast  of  rolls 
and  coffee,  or  something  equally  light.  Mr. 
Fletcher,  himself,  has  for  years  made  it  his 
custom  not  to  eat  at  all  until  he  has  finished 
his  day's  work.  Many  instances  might  be 
given  of  great  men  who  have  followed  this 
plan  because  personal  experiment  had 
shown  that  the  brain  is  clearest  when  the 
stomach  is  empty. 

On  no  account,  however,  should  any 
marked  reduction  of  food  be  made  sud- 
denly. The  best  plan  is  not  to  change  the 
dietary  at  the  start  at  all,  but  merely  to  be- 
gin the  practice  of  mastication — giving  at- 
tention to  the  taste  of  the  food  and  not  to 
the  jaw  movements — and  let  appetite  be  the 
guide. 

123 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

It  will  be  found  much  easier  to  resist  the 
old  impulse  to  hurry  down  masses  of  un- 
tasted  food  if  only  small  portions  are  placed 
on  the  table  and  served  on  the  plate.  With 
only  a  small  amount  of  food  before  him,  a 
man  will  make  the  most  of  it,  just  as  a  child 
will  make  a  small  piece  of  candy  last  as  long 
as  a  big  piece  if  he  knows  that  the  small 
piece  is  all  that  he  is  going  to  get:  whereas, 
if  the  man  is  given  a  large  portion,  his  ten- 
dency is  to  bolt  it  down  without  submitting 
it  to  the  discriminations  of  taste,  just  as  a 
child  would  bolt  down  candy  as  long  as  he 
knows  there  is  more  coming. 

A  very  few  weeks  of  complete  mastica- 
tion will  lead,  however,  to  an  automatic  re- 
duction of  the  diet  to  true  physiologic  needs, 
and  also  to  a  great  simplification  of  tastes. 
Under  the  old  way  of  eating  the  tendency 
is  towards  number  and  variety  of  complex, 
highly  flavored  foods;  the  practice  of  ana- 
lytical tasting  leads  to  a  preference  for  one 
or  two  dishes  of  simple  and  delicate  flavor 
uncomplicated  by  sauces  and  condiments. 
The  experience  of  almost  everyone  who  has 

124. 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

adopted  the  new  plan  is  that  the  taste  for 
stimulating  foods  of  every  character  gradu- 
ally disappears.  No  one  need  try  to  give 
up  meat,  condiments,  tea,  coffee,  alcohol  and 
tobacco,  because  if  he  continues  to  masticate 
conscientiously  for  several  months,  he  will 
have  no  desire  to  indulge  in  them  to  any 
harmful  extent. 

The  man  who  has  developed  the  delicate 
instincts  of  taste  and  appetite  that  Mr. 
Fletcher  has  shown  to  be  latent  in  every 
human  being  can  restrict  his  diet  to  exact 
physiological  requirements  without  impos- 
ing upon  himself  anything  like  self-denial. 
He  no  longer  feels  any  temptation  to  in- 
dulge in  the  pernicious  practice  of  eating  to 
kill  time*  because  he  not  only  has  no  desire  to 
eat  except  when  there  is  a  physiological  de- 
mand for  food,  but  he  actually  cannot  make 
himself  eat.  When,  however,  in  answer  to 
the  call  of  genuine  appetite,  he  does  sit  down 
to  his  meal,  he  enjoys  his  food  as  he  never 
did  before. 

The  adoption  of  the  new  system  is  ex- 
tremely likely  to  be  followed  by  a  sudden 

125 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

and  a  very  considerable  loss  of  weight. 
This  should  not,  however,  be  cause  for  alarm 
to  anyone.  The  latest  discoveries  of  science 
have  proved  conclusively  that  we  know 
nothing  whatever  in  regard  to  the  relation 
of  a  man's  weight  to  the  state  of  his  health. 
The  tables  prepared  by  life  insurance  com- 
panies purporting  to  give  the  number  of 
pounds  that  a  man  should  weigh  in  propor- 
tion to  his  height  and  age  are  mere  guesses 
based  on  their  observation  of  the  fact  that 
healthy  men  of  given  heights  and  ages  tend 
to  tip  the  scales  at  the  same  point.  This 
proves  that  these  men  have  these  weights, 
not  that  they  should  have  them.  Scientific 
authorities  do  not  presume  to  say  how  many 
pounds  a  man  needs  to  carry  to  be  in  perfect 
health,  because  they  do  not  know.  Experi- 
ence tends  to  prove,  however,  that  the  old 
idea  that  fat  people  are  the  healthiest,  is  a 
fallacy,  and  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is 
the  thin,  wiry  people  who  are  likely  to  live 
longest  and  enjoy  the  best  health.  The  ex- 
perience of  most  of  us  is,  probably,  that  the 
best  health  we  have  ever  enjoyed  was  in  the 

126 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

"  spindling  "  period  of  our  youth,  when  our 
extreme  leanness  often  made  us  a  butt  for 
the  humorous  remarks  of  our  friends. 

Professor  Chittenden  says  that  obesity  is 
a  condition  which  is  distinctly  undesirable 
and  may  prove  decidedly  injurious.  "  Un- 
due accumulation  of  fat,"  he  says,  "  is  not 
only  a  mechanical  obstacle  to  the  proper  ac- 
tivity of  the  body  as  a  whole,  but  it  inter- 
feres with  the  freedom  of  movement  of  such, 
muscular  organs  as  the  heart  and  stomach, 
thereby  interposing  obstacles  to  the  normal 
action  of  these  structures.  Further,  when- 
ever undue  fat  formation  is  going  on  in  the 
body,  there  is  the  ever  present  danger  that 
the  lifeless  fat  may  replace  the  living  proto- 
plasm of  the  tissue  cells  and  so  give  rise  to 
a  condition  known  as  '  fatty  degenera- 
tion.' " 22 

"  Let  any  actuary  of  life  insurance,"  says 
Dr.  Edward  Curtis,  "be  asked  his  experi- 
ence with  heavyweight  risks,  where  the 
waist  measures  more  than  the  chest,  and  the 
long-drawn  face  of  the  business  man,  at 

22  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  270. 
127 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

memory  of  lost  dollars,  will  make  answer 
without  need  of  words.  Then  let  it  be  noted 
the  physique  of  the  blessed  ones  that  attain 
to  green  old  age,  and,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten,  spry  old  boys — no  disparagement,  but 
all  honor  in  the  phrase — will  be  found  to  be 
modelled  after  the  type  of  octogenarian 
Bryant  or  nonogenarian  Bancroft — the 
white-faced,  wiry  and  spare,  as  contrasted 
with  the  red-faced,  the  pursy,  and  the  stout. 
It  is  true,  as  has  already  been  mentioned, 
that  in  old  age  much  of  an  adventitious 
obesity  is  absorbed  and  disappears,  but  the 
Bryant-Bancroft  type  is  that  of  a  subject 
who  never  has  been  fat  at  all.  And  just 
such  is  pre-eminently  the  type  that  rides 
easily  past  the  fourscore  mark,  reins  well  in 
hand,  and  good  for  many  another  lap  in  the 
race  of  life."  23 

"  Thorough  repair  of  an  impaired  body 
may  not  be  effected  immediately,"  says  Mr. 
Fletcher,  "  although  wonderful  results — 
almost  miraculous — have  been  obtained  in 

23  Dr.    Edward   Curtis:     "Nature   and   Health,"   p.   70. 
Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York. 

128 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

three  months;  but  a  week's  faithful  and  at- 
tentive study  of  the  possibilities  of  Epicure- 
anism, with  right  alimentation  as  its  basic 
requirement,  in  adding  to  the  comfort  and 
enjoyment  of  life,  will  result  in  right  eating 
being  made  physiologically  and  religiously 
habitual,  and  will  give  a  backbone  of  Epi- 
curean character  that  will  not  easily  suc- 
cumb to  gluttonous  impetuosity."24 

'  The  result,  in  all  cases  of  my  observa- 
tion, has  been  an  immediate  response  of  nat- 
urally increased  energy;  approach  of  weight 
toward  the  normal,  whether  the  subject  was 
overweight  or  underweight;  a  great  falling 
off  of  the  waste  to  be  discharged  by  the 
avenue  of  the  lower  intestines  and  also 
through  the  kidneys ;  relief  of  bleeding  hem- 
orrhoids and  catarrh;  emancipation  from 
headaches ;  clearing  of  the  tongue  of  yellow 
deposit;  and  return  of  the  energy  for  work 
which  all  men  and  women  should  have,  and 
which  finds  expression  in  healthy  children  in 
the  form  of  great  energy  for  play."  25 

24  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  p.  131. 

25  Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  174-175. 

129 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

The  following  statements  of  the  experi- 
ence of  Dr.  Hubert  Higgins  and  Dr.  Ernest 
Van  Someren  are  of  particular  value  from 
the  fact  that,  as  physicians,  they  have  been 
able  to  make  unusually  exact  and  scientific 
observations  upon  themselves  and  therefore 
to  arrive  at  particularly  valuable  conclu- 
sions. 

"  The  best  period  of  health  that  I  can 
remember  in  my  life,"  writes  Dr.  Higgins, 
"  was  that  between  seventeen  and  twenty- 
one,  during  the  time  I  was  preparing  for  the 
medical  profession.  I  had  a  small  break- 
fast at  about  7.30  A.  M.  and  then  went  up 
to  London  to  St.  George's  Hospital,  which 
was  about  fourteen  miles  from  my  home. 
My  parents  gave  me  2s.  6d.  for  my  midday 
meal,  but  I  fortunately  economized  and  only 
spent  6d.  to  lOd.  of  it  on  food.  After  fin- 
ishing my  work  I  usually  arrived  home  at 
5.30  and  had  a  *  meat  tea ' ;  this  allowed  me 
to  devote  six  hours  to  reading.  During  the 
whole  of  this  period  I  was  in  excellent  men- 
tal and  physical  condition.  I  was  made 
house  surgeon  at  twenty-one,  obtained  my 

130 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

degree  in  under  four  years,  besides  obtaining 
several  valuable  prizes. 

"  After  this  I  lived  in  the  hospital,  where 
three  meat  meals  were  provided.  These  I 
conscientiously  ate  '  to  keep  up  my  strength  ' 
during  the  performance  of  my  exhausting 
duties.  I  consider  that  this  period  was  the 
commencement  of  my  degeneration.  I  put 
on  twenty-four  pounds  in  weight  and  lost 
much  of  my  mental  energy. 

"  My  strong  hereditary  tendency  to  gout, 
with  the  excessive  meat  eating,  the  hurried 
eating,  during  some  three  and  one-half 
years  at  St.  George's  Hospital,  London,  and 
at  Addenbrooke's  Hospital,  Cambridge,  re- 
sulted in  constant  suffering  from  headache, 
lumbago,  rheumatic  pains,  and  all  those  dis- 
tressing symptoms  known  under  the  generic 
name  of  '  goutiness.'  After  seven  or  eight 
years  I  weighed  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  pounds  and  complained  of  increasing 
symptoms  of  gout.  I  then  became  a  pa- 
tient of  Dr.  H of  London,  whose  sys- 
tem requires  one  to  abstain  from  meat,  fish, 
poultry,  beans,  tea,  coffee,  in  other  words, 

131 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

from  foods  containing  uric  acid  or  its  equiv- 
alent. For  about  five  years,  till  the  end  of 
1901,  when  I  first  met  you,  I  fluctuated  con- 
siderably in  health,  on  the  whole  I  am  bound 
to  say,  in  a  steadily  downward  direction,  till 
I  was  overloaded  with  the  excessive  weight 
of  two  hundred  and  eighty-two  pounds. 

"  I  commenced,  under  your  advice,  masti- 
cating my  food  thoroughly  at  the  end  of  De- 
cember, 1901.  After  practising  this  method 
till  the  present  September,  1903,  I  have  lost 
one  hundred  and  four  pounds  in  weight  and 
consider  that  I  have  gained  very  considera- 
bly in  mental  and  physical  fitness.  I  prefer 
to  divide  this  period  into  two  parts:  (a) 
The  first  eight  months.  During  this  time  I 
followed  my  appetite,  but  with  a  strong 
mental  bias  in  favour  of  keeping  up  as 
nearly  as  possible  to  the  daily  '  physiological 
ration '  of  nitrogenous  food.  I  lost,  not- 
withstanding, some  sixty-four  pounds  in 
weight  in  spite  of  having  an  inordinate  appe- 
tite for  butter,  and  generally  taking  two 
pints  of  milk  daily.  During  this  period  I  un- 
dertook some  very  severe  work  in  the  Lab- 

132 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

oratory  of  Physiological  Chemistry,  with 
the  object  of  trying  to  devise  some  method 
of  measuring  the  extent  of  a  person's  de- 
parture from  their  optimum  health.  This 
led  almost  unconsciously  to  a  stronger  men- 
tal bias  in  favour  of  prescribing  the  amount 
of  food  one  should  eat,  and  to  a  certain 
number  of  experiments  in  feeding.  To- 
wards the  end  of  this  period  I  got  rather 
exhausted  in  consequence  of  my  severe  work 
and  complained  of  occasional  headaches. 
Following  the  suggestions  of  some  friends, 
I  added  fifty  grams  of  casein  to  my  daily 
diet  for  two  or  three  weeks.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  return  of  rheumatism  and  con- 
siderable sickness  and  inability  to  work, 
(b)  The  subsequent  six  months.  I  resolved 
to  devote  this  period  to  a  careful  study  of 
my  desires  for  food — to  take  no  notes — to 
make  no  experiments — in  short,  to  allow  my 
body  to  run  itself,  and  to  try  to  make  my 
brain  interpret  the  wants  of  the  body.  I 
had  moved  for  the  purpose  of  this  experi- 
ment into  a  small  house,  with  a  boy  and  a 
woman,  who  came  daily  to  clean  the  house — 

133 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

(I  mention  these  details  because  practically 
one  finds  that  a  woman  has  usually  such 
quick  sympathy  about  matters  concerning 
food  that  their  agitation  and  fears  are 
enough  in  themselves  to  cause  you  to  mod- 
ify your  diet.)  I  only  kept  bread,  butter, 
and  milk  in  the  house,  all  other  foods  I  was 
obliged  to  send  for,  and  if  I  required  a  dish 
to  be  cooked,  I  first  learned  how  to  do  it 
myself  and  then  taught  the  boy.  I  had  no 
fixed  times  for  meals,  and  did  not  have  a 
table  laid,  my  food  always  being  brought 
up  on  a  tray;  usually  I  did  not  interrupt  the 
work  I  was  doing.  I  deliberately  adopted 
all  these  precautions  because  I  had  become 
aware  by  experience  of  the  extraordinary 
influence  suggestion,  and  other  mind  influ- 
ences, such  as  habit,  had  in  one's  selection  of 
food  and  the  amount  one  ate.  During  the 
first  two  months  in  conscientiously  eating 
what  I  wished*  as  much  of  it  as  I  wanted 
and  when  my  appetite  demanded  food,  my 
desires  were  very  irregular,  ranging  over 
meats  and  fish  (occasionally),  chocolate, 
sweets,  cream,  cheese,  butter,  milk,  bread. 

134 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

potatoes,  oranges,  bananas,  sugar,  etc.,  but 
during  the  final  period  my  desires  were  much 
more  simple  and  regular,  confining  them- 
selves to  bread,  Gruyere  cheese,  butter, 
cream,  bananas,  occasionally  milk.  During 
and  subsequent  to  this  period  I  have  become 
convinced  that  provided  you  eat  your  food 
slowly  and  follow  your  appetite,  without 
guidance  from  any  other  knowledge  what- 
ever, you  get  marked  preference  for  simple 
foods  with  increasing  health  and  happiness, 
the  contentment  that  comes  from  the  ines- 
timably valuable  possession  of  simple  de- 


sires." 26 


"  Three  years  ago,  when  I  first  met  you," 
writes  Dr.  Van  Someren  to  Mr.  Fletcher, 
"  though  under  thirty  years  of  age,  and  my- 
self a  practising  physician  and  surgeon,  I 
was  suffering  from  gout,  and  had  been  un- 
der the  regime  of  a  London  specialist  for 
the  treatment  of  that  malady.  Though 
vigorously  adhering  to  the  prescribed  diet, 
I  suffered  from  time  to  time.  My  symp- 
toms were  typical — paroxysmal  pain  in  my 

26 Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  226-235. 

135 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

right  great  toe  and  in  the  last  joints  of  both 
little  fingers,  the  right  one  being  tumefied 
with  the  well-known  '  node.'  From  time  to 
time,  generally  once  a  month,  I  suffered 
from  incapacitating  headaches.  Frequent 
colds,  boils  on  the  neck  and  face,  chronic 
eczema  of  the  toes,  and  frequent  acid  dys- 
pepsia were  other  and  painful  signs  that  the 
life  I  was  leading  was  not  a  healthy  one. 
Yet  I  was  accounted  a  healthy  person  by  my 
friends,  and  was,  withal,  athletic.  I  fenced 
an  hour  daily,  took  calisthenic  exercises 
every  morning,  forcing  myself  to  do  them, 
and  I  rowed  when  I  obtained  leisure  to  do 
so.  In  spite  of  this  exercise  and  an  inher- 
ent love  of  fresh  air,  which  kept  all  the  win- 
dows of  my  house  open  throughout  the  year, 
I  suffered  as  above.  Worse  still,  I  was  los- 
ing interest  in  life  and  in  my  work.  .  .  . 

"  In  three  months  after  the  practice  of 
these  principles  my  symptoms  had  disap- 
peared. Not  only  had  my  interest  in  my  life 
and  work  returned,  but  my  whole  point  of 
view  had  changed,  and  I  found  a  pleasure 
in  both  living  and  working  that  was  a  con- 

136 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

stant  surprise  to  me.  For  this,  my  dear 
Mr.  Fletcher,  I  can  never  repay  you.  My 
only  desire  has  been,  and  is,  to  try  and  do 
for  others  in  my  practice  what  you  did 
for  me. 

"Now  I  have  since  that  time  Had  occa- 
sional colds,  headaches,  and  gouty  pains; 
but,  whereas  formerly  I  could  not  explain 
their  causes,  I  can  now  invariably  trace  them 
to  carelessness  in  the  buccal  digestion  of  my 
food,  and  can  soon  shake  them  off."  27 

The  following  paragraph,  taken  from  the 
"  testimonial "  of  one  of  Mr.  Fletcher's  lay 
"  patients  "  is  valuable  as  corroborating  Mr. 
Fletcher's  claim  that  his  system  works  auto- 
matically to  reduce  the  food  tojtrue  physio- 
logical needs. 

:<  I  have  for  some  time  been  chewing  a  la 
Fletcher  and  find  it  of  great  advantage.  It 
is  getting  to  be  automatic  and  is  losing  its 
irksomeness.  Indeed  it  already  seems  nat- 
ural and  produces  some  results  '  set  down  in 
the  book.'  For  instance,  I  have  no  desire 
for  meats   and  foods   which   do   not   lend 

27  Fletcher:  "New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  10-17. 

137 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

themselves  to  the  Fletcher  method.     This  in 
itself  is  a  great  advantage. 

"  By  the  way,  I  have  not  eaten  meat 
since  the  20th  of  last  October  (nearly  a 
year) ,  and  I  find  I  have  gained  greatly.  I 
only  desire  two  meals  a  day,  except  when  the 
exigencies  of  travel  make  a  light  breakfast 
agreeable  and  desirable.  By  these  means  I 
have  gained  nerve  force  wonderfully  and 
my  muscular  strength  and  endurance  have 
increased  so  that  I  walk  long  distances  and 
climb  mountains  easily.  In  fact,  I  do  now 
with  pleasure  and  avidity  what  I  could  not 
formerly  do  at  all.  They  are  the  sort  of 
things  that  are  supposed  to  require  a  '  strong 
meat  diet,'  but  which  under  such  a  diet  were 
impossible  to  me.  Mastication  and  thor- 
ough mouth- treatment  seem  to  allow  the  ap- 
petite to  prescribe  what  my  body  needs,  and 
this  is  the  essence  and  substance  of  your  dis- 
covery. .  .  .  There  is  no  doubt  in  my 
mind  but  what  there  is  a  natural  protection 
given  us  which  has  been  lost  by  perver- 
sion." 28 

28  Fletcher:  "  New  Glutton  or  Epicure,"  pp.  213-215. 

138 


CHAPTER   IV 

Topics:  True  food  requirements.  Reduction  of  pro- 
teid. The  question  of  meat-eating.  Vegetable 
proteid.  Amount  of  fuel-foods  necessary.  Speci- 
men dietaries.  Tables  indicating  proteid  and  fuel 
value  of  common  foods.  The  question  of  stimulants 
and  condiments.  Physiological  value  of  sugar. 
Inutility  of  foods  as  specifies.  General  principles. 
Conclusion. 

Tp  VEN  when  the  regulation  of  the  dietary 
■*-^  has  been  handed  over  to  an  appetite 
made  normal  by  the  practice  of  slow  eating 
and  analytical  tasting  as  recommended  by 
Mr.  Fletcher,  there  is  a  certain  advantage 
in  knowing  what  amounts  and  proportions 
of  the  various  classes  of  foods  are  necessary 
— according  to  the  new  principles  enunci- 
ated by  Professor  Chittenden — to  make  up 
a  well-balanced  ration. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Professor 
Chittenden  fixes  the  proteid  requirement 
per  day  for  a  man  of  average — say  154 
pounds — weight   at   60   grams,   about   two 

139 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ounces  a  day.  A  man  with  more  muscular 
tissue  to  nourish  will  require  more  proteid, 
and  a  man  with  less  muscular  tissue  will  not 
need  so  much.1  Taking  into  consideration 
the  fact  that  60  grams  or  2  ounces  of  pro- 
teid are  contained  in  half  a  pound  of  lean 
beef,  seven-eighths  of  a  pound  of  bacon, 
half  a  pound  of  fresh  American  cheese,  two 
quarts  of  milk,  nine  eggs,  one  pound  of 
baked  beans,  or  two-thirds  of  a  pound  of 
almonds;  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the 
average  man  with  his  two  or  three  meat 
meals  a  day — often  reinforced  with  proteid 
in  the  form  of  cheese,  milk,  eggs,  nuts,  beans 
or  peas — is  getting  a  great  deal  more  of  this 
particular  food  element  than  he  needs  or 
than  he  can  use  with  advantage. 

Since  meat  is  the  form  in  which  proteid 
is  consumed  in  the  largest  quantities,  it  is 
obvious  that  the  quickest  and  surest  way  of 
reducing  the  excess  of  proteid  is  by  cutting 
down  the  consumption  of  flesh  food.2     This 

1  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  271-279. 

2  Under  flesh  foods  are  included  all  meats  and  "  stock  " 
soups.  It  has  been  shown  that  although  these  extracts  of 
meat  contain  a  large  amount  of  nitrogen,  it  is  not  in  the 

140 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

should  not,  however,  be  taken  as  a  recom- 
mendation for  a  sudden  and  absolute  elim- 
ination of  meat  from  the  diet.  If  there  is 
one  point  which  the  discoverers  of  the  new 
principles  in  dietetics  insist  upon  more  than 
another,  it  is  that  all  changes  in  the  dietary 
should  be  made  gradually.  In  regard  to  the 
matter  of  meat  reduction  Professor  Fisher 
says : 

"  The  sudden  and  complete  exclusion  of 
meat  is  not  always  desirable,  unless  more 
skill  and  knowledge  in  food  matters  are  em- 
form  of  proteid  which  can  be  utilized,  but  only  of  waste 
nitrogen  which  must  be  excreted.  Apparently  the  sole 
virtue  of  such  soups  is  that  they  supply  the  "  peptogenic  " 
stimulus. 

Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  "The  Effect  of  Diet  on  Endur- 
ance." Publications  of  Yale  University,  pp.  44-45.  New 
Haven,  Conn. 

It  is  well  known  that  Liebig  came  to  repudiate  the  idea 
that  the  extractives  of  meat  were  nutritious,  and  that  inves- 
tigation has  shown  them  to  be  poisonous.  Recently,  Dr. 
F.  B.  Turck  has  found  that  dogs,  mice,  and  rats  fed  on 
meat  extractives  exhibit  symptoms  of  poisoning,  and  often 
die.  The  poisonous  effect  is  aggravated  by  intestinal  bac- 
teria, which  find  in  these  extractives  as  excellent  culture 
medium. 

Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  "Diet  and  Endurance  at  Brus- 
sels," Science,  N.  S.,  vol.  xxvi,  No.  669,  pp.  561-563.  Oc- 
tober 25,  1907. 

141 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ployed  than  most  persons  possess.  On  the 
contrary,  disaster  has  repeatedly  overtaken 
many  who  have  made  this  attempt.  Pavlov 
has  shown  that  meat  is  one  of  the  most  and 
perhaps  the  most  '  peptogenic '  of  foods. 
Whether  the  stimulus  it  gives  to  the  stomach 
is  natural,  or  in  the  form  of  an  improper 
goad  or  whip,  certain  it  is  that  stomachs 
which  are  accustomed  to  this  daily  whip  have 
failed,  for  a  time  at  least,  to  act  when  it  was 
withdrawn. 

"  Nor  is  it  necessary  that  meat  should  be 
permanently  abjured,  even  when  it  ceases 
to  become  a  daily  necessity.  The  safer 
course,  at  least,  is  to  indulge  the  craving 
whenever  one  is  'meat  hungry,'  even  if,  as 
in  many  cases,  this  be  not  oftener  than  once 
in  several  months.  The  rule  of  selection 
employed  in  the  experiment  was  merely  to 
give  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to  the  non- 
flesh  food;  but  even  a  slight  preference  for 
flesh  foods  was  to  be  followed."  3 

3  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  "The  Effect  of  Diet  on  Endur- 
ance," Publications  of  Yale  University,  pp.  44-45.  New 
Haven,  Conn. 

142 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

"  It  goes  without  saying  that  any  change 
in  diet,  unless  it  be  a  change  in  amount  only, 
should  be  gradual.  Thus,  if  a  person  has 
been  accustomed  to  excessive  proteid,  his 
stomach  has  probably  become  adjusted  to 
this  condition  and  secretes  a  large  amount  of 
gastric  juice.  When  the  reduction  of  pro- 
teid is  sudden,  the  gastric  juice  will  not  at 
first  decrease  in  proportion,  and  a  large  part 
of  this  secretion  will  therefore  remain  un- 
used. This  uncombined  acid  interferes  with 
the  digestion  of  starch  and  the  person  feels 
a  '  sour  stomach.'  A  gradual  reduction  of 
proteid,  on  the  other  hand,  will  avoid  this 
difficulty.  The  reduction  may  be  more 
rapid  (for  the  hyperacid)  if  the  proportion 
of  fat  be  increased,  as  fat  tends  to  restrain 
the  gastric  secretion."  4 

All  the  leaders  of  the  movement  are  still 
divided  in  their  opinion  as  to  whether  a  com- 
plete exclusion  of  meat,  even  when  effected 
gradually,  is  to  be  recommended.  Profes- 
sor Chittenden's  opinion  is  that  "  man  is  an 

*  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  "A  Graphic  Method  in  Practical 
Dietetics."    New  Haven,  Conn. 

143 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

omnivorous  animal  and  Nature  never  in- 
tended him  to  subsist  solely  on  any  specific 
form  of  food  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others." 
.  #  .  "  Vegetarianism  may  have  its  vir- 
tues," he  says,  "  as  too  great  indulgence  in 
flesh  foods  may  have  its  serious  side,  but 
there  would  seem  to  be  no  sound  physiologi- 
cal reason  for  the  complete  exclusion  of  any 
one  class  of  food  stuffs,  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions of  life."  5  He  is  emphatic  in  declar- 
ing, however,  that  "  a  diet  which  conforms 
to  the  true  nutritive  requirements  of  the 
body  must  necessarily  lead  toward  vegeta- 
ble foods.  In  no  other  satisfactory  way  can 
excess  of  proteid  be  avoided  and  at  the  same 
time  proper  calorific  value  be  obtained. 
This,  however,  does  not  mean  vegetarianism, 
but  simply  a  greater  reliance  upon  foods 
from  the  plant  kingdom,  with  a  corre- 
sponding diminution  in  the  typical  animal 
foods."  6 

To  this  discussion  Professor  Fisher  has 

6  Chittenden :  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
470. 

e  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  291-292. 

144 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

contributed  a  summary  of  a  monograph  by 
Mile.  Dr.  J.  Ioteyko,  head  of  the  laboratory 
at  the  University  of  Brussels,  and  Mile. 
Varia  Kipiani,  student  in  science,  setting 
forth  the  results  of  their  recent  investigation 
of  the  relative  merits  of  a  vegetarian  and  a 
meat  diet. 

"  The  authors  have  become  convinced," 
says  Professor  Fisher,  "  that  the  vegetarian 
regime  is  for  the  most  part  a  more  rational 
one  than  the  highly  nitrogenous  diet  ordi- 
narily prevailing  in  Western  Europe  and 
America.  The  authors  quote,  in  behalf  of 
their  conclusions,  the  eminent  French  diet- 
ician, Armand  Gautier,  '  who  without  him- 
self being  a  vegetarian,  praises  the  good 
effects  of  the  vegetarian  regime.'  The  au- 
thors quote  Gautier  as  follows : 

"  *  The  vegetarian  regime,  modified  by 
the  addition  of  milk,  of  fat,  of  butter,  of 
eggs,  has  great  advantages.  It  adds  to  the 
alkalinity  of  the  blood,  accelerates  oxida- 
tion, diminishes  organic  wastes  and  toxins; 
it  exposes  one  much  less  than  the  ordinary 
regime  to  skin  maladies,  to  arthritis,  to  con- 

145 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

gestions  of  internal  organs.  This  regime 
tends  to  make  us  pacific  beings  and  not 
aggressive  and  violent.  It  is  practical  and 
rational/ 

"  The  authors,  while  apparently  classify- 
ing themselves  as  advocates  of  vegetarian- 
ism, admit  that  in  certain  cases  it  is  necessary 
to  prescribe  meat  as  a  *  medicament ' — '  just 
as  one  prescribes  sometimes  alcohol  and  other 
poisons.'  The  authors  also  observe  that  the 
transition  to  a  vegetarian  diet  should  be 
gradual. 

"  The  personal  history  is  traced  of  forty- 
three  vegetarians  of  Brussels.  Among 
other  interesting  observations  is  the  follow- 
ing: ' 

"  *  For  the  most  part  the  vegetarians  ap- 
pear'younger  than  their  age;  notably  the 
ladies  are  distinguished  by  their  clear  and 
fresh  complexion.' 

'  The  experiments  conducted  by  Miles, 
loteyko  and  Kipiani  are  restricted  to  vege- 
tarians who  have  been  such  for  several 
years.  The  experiments  were,  for  the  most 
part,  comparisons  of  strength  and  endur- 

146 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

ance.  So  far  as  strength  is  concerned  very 
little  difference  was  discovered  between  veg- 
etarians and  '  carnivores.'  In  endurance, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  very  remarkable  differ- 
ence was  found,  the  vegetarians  surpassing 
the  carnivores  from  50  to  200  per  cent., 
according  to  the  method  of  measurement. 

"  This  result  agrees  with  the  "  (Professor 
Fisher's)  "experiment  on  nine  Yale  stu- 
dents described  in  Science.  These  subjects, 
by  dint  of  thorough  mastication,  gradually 
lost  their  taste  for  flesh  foods.  At  the  end 
of  five  months,  while  not  becoming  vegetari- 
ans, they  had  reduced  their  consumption  of 
flesh  foods  to  one-sixth  of  the  amount  to 
which  they  had  originally  been  accustomed. 
Their  strength  remained  practically  station- 
ary, but  their  endurance,  according  to  the 
gymnasium  tests,  was  increased  on  an  aver- 
age by  over  90  per  cent. 

"  The  authors  compared  the  endurance  of 
seventeen  vegetarians,  six  men  and  eleven 
women,  with  that  of  twenty-five  carnivores, 
students  of  the  University  of  Brussels. 
Comparing  the  two  sets  of  subjects  on  the 

147 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

basis  of  mechanical  work,  it  is  found  that  the 
vegetarians  surpassed  the  carnivores  on  the 
average  by  53  per  cent.  Comparing  the 
two  groups  on  the  basis  of  the  number  of 
contractions — or,  what  amounts  to  the  same 
thing,  the  length  of  time  during  which  the 
ergograph  could  be  continuously  operated — 
it  was  found  that  the  vegetarians  could  work 
on  the  ergograph  two  or  three  times  as  long 
as  the  carnivores  before  reaching  the  exhaus- 
tion point. 

:'  This  last  result  corresponds  to  conclu- 
sions of  the  present  writer  in  an  experiment 
in  which  forty-nine  subjects,  about  half  of 
whom  were  flesh-eaters  and  half  flesh- 
abstainers,  were  compared.  It  was  found 
that  the  flesh-abstainers  had  more  endurance 
as  measured  by  gymnasium  tests  than  the 
flesh-eaters,  to  the  extent  of  from  two  to 
three  fold. 

"  The  Brussels  investigators  found  also 
that  the  vegetarians  recuperated  from  fa- 
tigue far  more  quickly  than  the  meat-eaters, 
a  result  also  found  in  the  Yale  experiment. 

"The  authors  conclude  by  advocating  a 

148 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

vegetarian  regime  as  a  proper  system  for 
workingmen,  and  believe  that  its  use  would 
reduce  the  accidents  on  railways  and  in  in- 
dustry which  come  from  over-fatigue,  in- 
crease the  productivity  of  labor,  as  well  as 
have  other  economic  benefits. 

"  These  investigations,  with  those  of 
Combe  of  Laussanne,  Metchnikoif  and  Tis- 
sier  of  Paris,  as  well  as  Herter  and  others  in 
the  United  States,  seem  gradually  to  be 
demonstrating  that  the  fancied  strength 
from  meat  is,  like  the  fancied  strength  from 
alcohol,  an  illusion.  The  '  beef  and  ale  of 
England '  are  largely  sources  of  weakness, 
not  strength.  Whether  in  moderation  they 
are  harmful  may  still  be  a  matter  of  con- 
jecture. While  the  trend  of  recent  experi- 
ments is  distinctly  against  the  excessive  use 
of  flesh  foods,  there  are  still  needed  many 
more  experiments — medical,  athletic,  and  in- 
dustrial— before  the  economics  of  diet  can 
be  established  on  a  secure  basis."  7 

7  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D. :  "  Diet  and  Endurance  at  Brus-i 
sels,"  Science,  N,  S.,  vol.  xxvi,  No.  669,  pp.  561-563,  October 
25,  1907. 

149 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

In  another  place,  Professor  Fisher  con- 
cludes : 

"  The  users  of  low-proteid  and  non-flesh 
dietaries  have  far  greater  endurance  than 
those  who  are  accustomed  to  the  ordinary 
American  diet.  ...  It  may  be  said 
that,  whatever  the  explanation,  there  is 
strong  evidence  that  a  low-proteid  non-flesh 
or  nearly  non-flesh  dietary  is  conducive  to 
endurance.     .     .     . 

"  The  question  of  the  extent  to  which 
flesh  foods  can  be  used  advantageously  is 
still  open,  but  there  can  now  be  little  ques- 
tion, in  view  of  the  facts  which  have  come  to 
light  during  the  last  few  years,  that  the 
ordinary  consumption  of  those  foods  is  ex- 
cessive." 8 

The  endurance-giving  qualities  of  a  non- 
flesh  dietary  are,  however,  attributed  by 
Miles.  Ioteyko  and  Kipiani,  not  to  its  low 
proteid  values,  but  to  toxins  present  in  ani- 
mal tissue.  The  chemical  processes  that  go 
on  in  the  bodies  of  all  living  creatures  gen- 

8  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  "The  Influence  of  Flesh-eating 
on  Endurance,"  Yale  Medical  Journal,  March,  1907. 

150 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

erate  substances  which,  in  character  and 
effect,  are  true  poisons.  These  poisons  serve 
their  own  good  purposes  in  the  bodily  econ- 
omy, and,  in  the  healthy  organism,  are 
readily  transformed  into  harmless  sub- 
stances or  excreted.  There  is  no  moment  in 
the  life  of  a  creature,  however,  when  its  tis- 
sues are  wholly  free  from  them.  Therefore, 
when  an  animal  is  slaughtered  for  food  and 
the  chemical  processes  which  would  other- 
wise have  disposed  of  its  toxins  are  suddenly 
arrested,  the  poisons  remain  in  the  tissues 
and  are  devoured  by  the  consumer  along 
with  the  meat. 

A  person  in  vigorous  health  can  usually 
manage  to  dispose  of  toxins  taken  into  his 
body  in  this  fashion  as  well  as  the  poisons 
generated  by  his  own  organism,  but  only  at 
the  expense  of  a  great  deal  of  hard  work. 
Persons  who  have  a  tendency  to  manufac- 
ture more  poisons  than  they  can  manage 
conveniently — for  instance,  gouty  and  rheu- 
matic persons  who  have  a  tendency  to  manu- 
facture an  excess  of  uric  acid — are,  how- 
ever, almost  sure  to  suffer  unless  their  use 

151 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  meat  is  limited  to  extremely  small  quan- 
tities. 

Allied  with  these  facts  is  the  discovery 
that  meat-eating  apparently  tends  to  in- 
crease the  number  and  virulence  of  the  bac- 
teria in  the  lower  intestines.9  In  view  of 
Elie  MetchnikofFs  recent  declaration 10 
that  it  is  primarily  the  presence  of  these  or- 
ganisms in  the  colon  that  causes  the  human 
body  to  break  down  or  wear  out  before  its 
time,  this  fact  alone  would  seem  to  add  con- 
siderable weight  to  the  argument  for  re- 
duced consumption  of  flesh  food. 

In  defense  of  their  uncompromising  con- 
demnation of  meat-eating,  vegetarian  dog- 
matists usually  bring  out  the  argument  that 
the  most  spiritual  and  intellectual  men  of  all 
ages  have  discouraged  the  use  of  animal- 
flesh  for  food;  or  quote  from  the  Scriptures 
to  prove  that  they  have  inspired  authority;11 

9  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  292-293. 

10 Elie  Metchnikoff:  "The  Nature  of  Man,"  "The  Pro- 
longation of  Life."     G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York. 

ii  A  favorite  reference  of  the  kind  occurs  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  book  of  Daniel,  where  it  is  related  how  the 
budding  prophet,  after  having  rejected  the  meats  and  wines 

152 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

but  the  leaders  of  the  new  movement  have 
considered  the  subject  from  a  purely  physio- 
logical view-point.  On  this  point  Professor 
Fisher  says : 

"Vegetarian  fanaticism  has  done  much 
to  defeat  its  own  ends.  From  the  premise — 
often  bolstered  up  by  theological  dogma 
— that  flesh-eating  is  wrong,  the  inference 
is  drawn  that  it  must  be  unhygienic.  This 
reasoning  is  so  utterly  at  variance  with  the 
methods  of  modern  science  as  to  stamp 
those  who  use  it  as  victims  of  bigoted  prej- 
udice, and  to  prevent  any  genuine  scientific 
investigation.  At  present  the  tendency  of 
such  investigations  as  those  of  Chittenden, 
Mendel,  Folin,  MetchnikoiJ^  Caspari,  Le 
Fevre,  Fauvel  and  others  have  a  distinct 
trend  towards  a  fleshless  dietary.  And  yet, 
such  are  the  associations  of  the  term  '  vege- 
tarian,' that  many  are  loath  to  grant  even 
what  is  due  to  the  tenets  of  '  vegetarianism.' 

of  the  king's  "table  and  subsisted  on  pulse  and  water  for 
ten  days,  was  found  "  fairer  and  fatter  in  flesh  than  all 
the  children  that  did  eat  of  the  king's  meat,"  and  "  ten 
times  better  than  all  the  magicians  and  astrologers  that 
were  in  all  the  realm." 

153 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

The  proper  scientific  attitude  is  to  study  the 
question  of  meat-eating  in  precisely  the 
same  manner  as  one  would  study  the  ques- 
tion of  bread-eating."  12 

It  is  quite  possible  to  overeat  on  proteid 
without  making  use  of  meat  at  all.  The 
old-fashioned  vegetarians  who  substituted 
for  meat  an  equivalent  of  proteid  derived 
from  nuts,  peas,  beans,  lentils — or,  in  the 
case  of  the  so-called  "  lacto-vegetarians," 
eggs,  and  milk  and  the  milk-products — were 
probably  not  deriving  as  much  benefit  from 
their  abstention  from  meat  as  they  should 
have  done  if  they  had  not  been  so  careful  to 
replace  it  with  non-flesh  proteid — particu- 
larly as  the  non-flesh  sources  of  proteid  have 
many  of  the  disadvantages  of  meat.  Uric 
acid  exists  in  large  quantities  in  all  the 
legumes.  Eggs  contain  a  substance  known 
as  xanthin,  which  is  closely  allied  to  uric 
acid.  The  decomposition  products  of  the 
"  ripe  "  cheeses,  so  highly  prized  by  epicures, 
are  only  less  dangerous  than  those  of  meat. 

12  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.,  "  The  Influence  of  Flesh-eating 
on  Endurance,"  Yale  Medical  Journal,  March,  1907. 

154 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Milk  is  so  extremely  susceptible  to  contam- 
ination by  bacteria  that  some  persons  have 
gone  so  far  as  to  condemn  it  as  an  article  of 
food  except  for  nursing  infants.  Accord- 
ingly the  restrictions  in  the  use  of  meat  may 
be  applied  with  advantage  to  the  meat-sub- 
stitutes as  well. 

In  addition  to  the  60  grams  or  two  ounces 
of  proteid,  enough  carbohydrate  food  should 
be  taken  every  day  to  make  up  a  total  fuel 
value  of  from  2000  to  3000  calories,  accord- 
ing to  the  degree  of  bodily  activity.  "  The 
man  whose  work  is  mainly  mental,"  says 
Professor  Chittenden,  "  has  no  real  need  for 
high  fuel  values  in  his  daily  ration.  For 
such  a  man,  a  high  potential  energy  in  the 
daily  intake  of  food  is  an  incubus  and  not  a 
gain.  Body  equilibrium  can  be  maintained 
on  far  less  than  3000  calories  per  day  by  the 
brain  worker.  .  .  .  Moreover,  as  our 
experiments  have  clearly  indicated,  even  the 
man  who  is  called  upon  to  perform  consid- 
erable physical  work  has  no  apparent  need 
for  a  fuel  value  in  his  food  of  3000  calories 
per  day.     No  doubt,  the  man  who  works  at 

155 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

hard  labor  for  ten  or  twelve  hours  a  day  will 
require  a  larger  intake  of  fats  and  carbohy- 
drates, sufficient  to  yield  even  more  than 
3000  calories,  but  this  is  not  true  of  the  mod- 
erate worker,  nor  of  the  average  man  whose 
work  is  in  large  measure  mental  rather  than 
physical."  13 

The  following  dietary,  outlined  by  Pro- 
fessor Chittenden,  will  give  the  reader  a 
general  idea  of  the  kind  and  amount  of  food 
required  for  the  proper  proportions  of  pro- 
teid  and  carbohydrate  food,  and  will  furnish 
him  with  a  basis  for  working  out  a  balanced 
ration  for  himself. 

Breakfast. 

Proteid        Calories 

One  shredded  wheat  biscuit 3.15  grams  106 

30  grams  or  1  ounce. 

One  teacup  of  cream 3.12  206 

120  grams  or  4  ounces. 

One  German  water  roll 5.07  165 

57  grams  or  2  ounces. 

Two  one-inch  cubes  of  butter 0.38  284 

38  grams  or  1£  ounces. 

Three-fourths  cup  of  coffee 0.26 

100  grams  or  3^  ounces. 

One- fourth  teacup  of  cream 0.78  51 

30  grams  or  1  ounce. 

One  lump  of  sugar 38 

10  grams  or  ^  ounce.  

\  ounce  approx.=12. 76  grams  850 

i3  Chittenden:  "Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
476. 

156 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Lunch.  Proteid        Calories 

One  teacup  homemade  chicken  soup  ..  5.25  grams  60 

144  grams  or  4§  ounces. 
One  Parker-house   roll 3.38  110 

38  grams  or  1^  ounces. 
Two  one-inch  cubes  of  butter 0.38  284 

38  grams  or  1-J  ounces. 
One  slice  lean  bacon 2.14  65 

10  grams  or  ^  ounce. 
One  small  baked  potato 1 .53  55 

60  grams  or  2  ounces. 
One  rice  croquette 3.42  150 

90  grams  or  3  ounces. 
Two  ounces  maple  syrup 166 

60  grams  or  2  ounces. 

One  cup  of  tea  with  one  slice  lemon 

One  lump  of  sugar 38 

10  grams  or  ^  ounce.  

J  ounce  approx.=16.10  grams  928 

Dinner.  Proteid        Calories 

One  teacup  cream  of  corn  soup 3.25  grams  72 

130  grams  or  4^  ounces. 

One  Parker-house  roll 3.38  110 

38  grams  or  1£  ounces. 

One-inch  cube  of  butter 0.19  142 

19  grams  or  §  ounce. 
One  small  lamb  chop,  broiled  lean  meat  8.51  92 

30  grams  or  1  ounce. 

One  teacup  of  mashed  potato 3.34  175 

167  grams  or  5|  ounces. 
Apple-celery  lettuce  salad  with  mayon- 
naise dressing 0 .  62  75 

50  grams  or  If  ounces. 
One  Boston  cracker,  split,  2  inches  di- 
ameter   1.32  47 

12  grams  or  £  ounce. 
One  half-inch  cube  American  cheese. . .  3.35  50 

12  grams  or  £  ounce. 
One-half  teacup  of  bread  pudding....  5.25  150 

85  grams  or  3  ounces. 

One  demitasse  coffee 

One  lump  of  sugar 38 

10  grams  or  £  ounce.  ■  

1  ounce  approx.=29.21  951 

157 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

"  The  grand  totals  for  the  day,  with  this 
dietary,  amount  to  58.07  grams  of  proteid 
(2  oz.  approx.)  and  2729  calories.  It  is  of 
course  understood  that  these  figures  are  to 
be  considered  as  only  approximately  cor- 
rect, but  the  illustration  will  suffice,  perhaps, 
to  give  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  actual 
quantities  of  food  involved  in  a  daily  ration 
approaching  the  requirements  for  a  man  of 
70  kilograms  (154  pounds)  body- weight. 
Further,  there  may  be  suggested  by  the  fig- 
ures given  for  proteid  and  fuel  value  of  the 
different  quantities  of  foods,  a  clearer  con- 
ception of  how  much  given  dietary  articles 
count  for  in  swelling  the  total  value  of  a 
day's  intake.  Moreover,  it  is  easy  to  see 
how  the  diet  can  be  added  to  or  modified  in  a 
given  direction.  If  a  little  more  proteid  is 
desired  without  changing  materially  the  fuel 
value  of  the  food  a  boiled  egg  can  be  added 
to  the  breakfast,  for  example.  An  average- 
sized  egg  of  53  grams  (2  oz.)  contains  6.9 
grams  of  proteid,  while  it  will  increase  the 
fuel  value  of  the  food  by  only  80  calories. 
Or,  if  more  vegetable  proteid  is  wished  for, 

158 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

a  soup  of  split-peas  can  be  introduced,  with- 
out changing  in  any  degree  the  calorific 
value  of  the  diet.  Thus,  one  teacup  of  split- 
pea  soup  (144  grams,  or  4§  oz.)  contains 
8.64  grams  of  proteid,  while  the  fuel  value 
of  this  quantity  may  be  only  94  calories. 
The  addition  of  one  banana  (160  grams, 
5 J  oz.)  will  increase  fuel  value  153  calories, 
but  will  add  only  2.28  grams  of  proteid.  If 
it  is  desired  to  increase  fuel  value  without 
change  in  the  proteid-content  of  the  food, 
recourse  can  always  be  had  to  butter,  fat  of 
meat,  additional  oil  in  salads,  or  to  syrup 
and  sugar. 

"  Such  a  menu  as  is  roughly  outlined, 
however,  has  perhaps  special  value  in  em- 
phasizing how  largely  the  proteid  intake  is 
increased  by  food  other  than  meats,  and 
which  are  not  conspicuously  rich  in  proteid 
matter.  All  wheat  products,  for  example, 
while  abounding  in  starch,  still  show  a  large 
proportion  of  proteid.  Thus,  shredded 
wheat  biscuit  (1  ounce),  which  is  a  type  of 
many  kindred  wheat  preparations,  from 
bread   and   biscuit  to   the   many   so-called 

159 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

breakfast  foods,  yields  about  3  grams  of 
proteid  per  ounce  and  approximately  100 
calories.  Even  potato,  which  is  conspicu- 
ously a  carbohydrate  food  owing  to  its  large 
content  of  starch,  yields  of  nitrogen  the 
equivalent  of  at  least  three-fourths  of  a 
gram  of  proteid  per  ounce.  If  larger  vol- 
ume is  desired  without  much  increase  in  real 
food  value,  there  are  always  available  green 
foods,  such  as  lettuce,  celery,  greens  of 
various  sorts,  fruits,  such  as  apples,  grapes, 
oranges,  etc.  Too  great  reliance  on  meats 
as  a  type  of  concentrated  food,  on  the  other 
hand,  augments  largely  the  intake  of  proteid 
food,  and  adds  a  relatively  small  amount  to 
the  fuel  value  of  the  day's  ration."  14 

The  following  specimen  meals,  taken  at 
random  from  among  the  dietaries  used  by 
the  subjects  of  Professor  Chittenden's  ex- 
periments, are  given  here  as  actual  examples 
of  dietaries  in  which  the  proportions  and 
amounts  of  the  various  kinds  of  foods  are 
properly  balanced.15 

14  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  280-282. 
is  The  quantities  of  food  in  the  specimen  meals,  which 

160 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 


Professor  Chittenden  16 

Breakfast — 1  cup  coffee  (demitasse),  £  teacup  cream,  1 
teaspoonful  sugar. 

Lttnch^-I  shredded  wheat  biscuit,  £  teacup  cream,  1  teacup 
tea,  J  teaspoonful  sugar,  I  small  piece  of  apple-pie,  2 
wheat  <jems,  $-inch  cube  butter. 

Dixxer — 1  teacup  milk-celery  soup,  1  slice  bread,  a  dab  of 
butter,  lettuce  sandwich,  small  triangle  of  lemon-pie. 

Per  cent.  Total 

FOOD  Grams.  Nitrogen.      Nitrogen. 

Coffee,  3£  oz 100  X  0.042  0.042  grams 

Cream,  4V5  oz..  .25  +  118  =143  X  0.43  0.615 

Sugar,  V*  oz.  .8  +  7  +  10  =     25  X  0.00  0.000 

Shredded  wheat  biscuit,  1  oz.     29  X  1.76  0.510 

Wheat  gems,  2  oz 60  X  1.17  0.702 

Butter,    £    oz 8+1=    9  X  0.10  0.009 

Tea,  6f  oz 100  +  100=200  X  0.048  0.096 

Apple  pie,  3£  oz 102  X  0.75  0.765 

Milk-celery  soup,  4§  oz 140  X  0.42  0.588 

Bread   1  oz 15  X  1.36  0.204 

Lettuce  sandwich,  2  oz 62  X  1 .  02  0 .  632 

Lemon  pie,  3f  oz 109  X  0.82  0.894 

Total  nitrogen  in  food 5 .  057 

Fuel  value  of  the  food,  1594  calories. 

were  indicated  by  Professor  Chittenden  by  their  weight  in 
grams,  have  been  weighed  out  for  this  book  into  portions 
that  can  be  more  readily  estimated  by  the  average  man.  As 
the  food  used  for  this  purpose  was  not  that  used  by  Pro- 
fessor Chittenden,  the  estimates  must  be  understood  to  be 
mere  approximations. — G.  B. 

is  Chittenden:  "Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
38. 

161 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 


Professor  Mendel 


17 


Breakfast — 2  thin  slices  bread  (average  baker's  loaf),  2\ 
teaspoonfuls  sugar,  1  teacup  coffee. 

Lunch — 6  slices  bread,  1  large  sweet  potato,  1  glass  milk, 
1  teaspoonful  sugar,  1  small  saucer  peach  preserve. 

Dinner — 6  slices  bread,  1  potato,  1  teacup  tomato  puree, 
1  tablespoon ful  baked  beans,  1  small  triangle  lemon  pie, 
1  teacup  coffee,  3  teaspoonfuls  sugar. 


Per  cent.  Total 

FOOD  Grams.     Nitrogen.  Nitrogen. 

Bread,  7*  oz.40  +  95  +  90=  225     X     1.75  3.94  grams 

Sugar,  1§  oz..20  +  7 +21  =    48     X     0.00  0.00 

Coffee  (breakfast),  7  oz 210     X     0.096  0.20 

Sweet  potato,  4£  oz 130     X     0.31  0.40 

Milk,  8£oz 250     X     0.51  1.27 

Peach  preserve,  3  oz 93     X     0.09  0.08 

Potato,3£oz 100     X     0.36  0.36 

Tomato  puree,  4^  oz 135     X     0.33  0.45 

Baked  beans,  2\  oz 75     X     1.30  0.98 

Lemon  pie,  3|  oz 110     X     0.61  0.67 

Coffee  (dinner),  7  oz ,...210     X     0.13  0.27 

Total  nitrogen  in   food 8.62  grams 

Fuel  value  of  the  food,  1828  calories. 


17  Chittenden :  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
61. 


162 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Mr.  Beers  18 

Breakfast — 2  saucers  oatmeal,  1  inch-cube  butter,  £  teacup 
cream,  5  teaspoonfuls  sugar,  1  teacupful  coffee. 

Luxch — 5  thin  slices  bread,  1  inch-cube  butter,  1  large 
boiled  potato,  1  glass  milk. 

Distner — 4  slices  bread,  1  inch-cube  butter,  1  heaping  table- 
spoonful  baked  beans,  saucer  cranberry  sauce,  1  teacupful 
coffee,  3  teaspoonfuls  sugar. 


Per  cent.  Total 

FOOD  Grams.     Nitrogen.  Nitrogen. 

Oatmeal,   10  oz 229     X     0.60  1.794  grams 

Butter,  1^  oz. 

19  +  11  +  12=     42     X     0.088  0.036 

Cream,  2^  oz 71     X     0.47  0.333 

Sugar,  2  oz 41+21=     62     X     0.00  0.000 

Coffee  (breakfast),  7  oz 210     X     0.12  0.252 

Bread,  4£  oz 79+56=135     X     1.65  2.227 

Boiled  potato,  5£  oz 155. 2X     0.39  0.605 

Milk,  8^  oz 250     X     0.55  1.375 

Baked  beans,  3£  oz 100     X     1.40  1.400 

Cranberry  sauce,  5  oz 150     X     0.04  0.060 

Coffee  (dinner),  7  oz 210     X     0.11  0.231 

Total  nitrogen  in  food 8.313  grams 

Fuel  value  of  the  food,  1723  calories. 


18  Chittenden:  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
115. 


163 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 
Mr.  Oakman,  member  of  the  soldier  detail 19 

Breakfast — 1  saucer  boiled  rice,  |  glass  milk,  3  teaspoonfuls 
sugar,  1  large  baked  potato,  1  inch-cube  butter,  1  coffee- 
cup  coffee. 

Dixker — 2  heaping  tablespoonfuls  baked  spaghetti,  5  slices 
bread,  1  small  saucer  boiled  tomato,  1  small  triangle  apple 
pie,  2  average  slices  bacon,  1  coffeecup  coffee. 

Supper — 3  biscuit,  2  average  slices  fried  bacon,  5  tablespoon- 
fuls fried  sweet  potato,  1  inch-cube  butter,  1  coffeecup  tea. 


Per  cent.  Total 

FOOD  Grams.     Nitrogen.      Nitrogen. 

Boiled  rice,  6  oz 175     X     0.34  0.595  grams 

Milk,  4  oz 125     X     0.55  0.687 

Sugar,  1  oz 25     X     0.00  0.000   • 

Baked  potato,  5  oz 150     X     0.34  0.510 

Coffee  (breakfast),  1  If  oz..  350     X     0.082  0.287 

Butter,  1   oz 10+20=     30     X     0.16  0.480 

Spaghetti,  8Joz 250     X     0.73  1 .825 

Mashed  potato,  8£  oz 250     X     0.30  0.750 

Bread,    2£    oz 75     X     1.61  1.207 

Tomato,  5  oz 150     X     0.16  0.240 

Apple  pie,  3f  oz 112     X     0.46  0.515 

Biscuit,  6  oz 175     X     1.21  2.117 

Fried  bacon,  f  oz 20     X     3.80  0.760 

Fried  sweet  potato,  5  oz 150     X     0.22  0.330 

Tea,  llf  oz 350     X     0.06  0.210 

Coffee  (dinner),  11§  oz 350     X     0.11  0.385 

Total  nitrogen  in  food 10.466  grams 

Fuel  value  of  the  food,  2670  calories. 

*9  Chittenden:  "Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
224. 

164 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 


Mr.  Donahue,  one  of  the  Yale  athletes 20 

Breakfast — 1  banana,  1  saucer  boiled  Indian  meal,  \  teacup 
cream,  2\  teaspoonfuls  sugar,  4  thin  slices  bread,  1  inch- 
cube  butter. 

Lunch — 4  thin  slices  bread,  1  inch-cube  butter,  1  small  lamb 
chop,  1  heaping  tablespoon  potato-croquette,  1  large  saucer 
tomato,  1  saucer  water-ice,  2£  teaspoonfuls  sugar. 

Dinner — £  teacup  bean  soup,  3|  tablespoonfuls  fried  potato, 
£  egg,  1  average  slice  bacon,  1  salad-plate  lettuce,  1  cup 
coffee  (demitasse),  i  teacup  cream,  2 £  teaspoonfuls  sugar, 
6  large  stewed  prunes  and  juice. 

Per  cent.  Total 

FOOD  Grams.  Nitrogen.      Nitrogen. 

Bread,  2  oz 59  X  1.65  0.964  grams 

Butter,  1  oz 16  +  13=    29  X  0.15  0.044 

Banana,  3J  oz 106  X  0.23  0.244 

Boiled   Indian-meal,   5   oz..  150  X  0.17  0.255 

Sugar,  2  oz.21  +  14  +21—    56  X  0.00  0.000 

Cream,  3£  oz 50+50=  100  X  0.43  0.430 

Bread,   2   oz 55  X  1.82  1.001 

Potato  croquette,  3J  oz 105  X  0.71  0.746 

Lamb  chops,  1£  oz 37  X  4.63  1.713 

Tomato,  7  oz 213  X  0.17  0.367 

Water-ice,  4f  oz 143  X  0.012  0.017 

Prunes,    8£    oz 247  X  0.16  0.395 

Bean  soup,  3£  oz 100  X  1.21  1.210 

Fried    potato,    3^    oz 100  X  0.60  0.600 

Egg,  §   oz 22  X  2.27  0.499 

Bacon,  £   oz 10  X  3.05  0.305 

Salad,  2  oz 63  X  0.21  0.132 

Coffee,  3£   oz 100  X  0.06  0.060 


Total  nitrogen  in  food 8.992  grams 

Fuel  value  of  the  food 2294  calories 

20  Chittenden:  "  Physiological  Economy  in  Nutrition,"  p. 
379. 

165 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Professor  Chittenden  adds  to  the  speci- 
men meals  used  in  his  own  experiments  the 
following  dietary,  which  was  adopted  by  a 
Scotch  physician,  Dr.  Aran  Coirce,  as  a  test 
of  the  low  proteid  theory. 

Breakfast — Oatmeal  cakes,  bread  and  butter,  about  1  cubic 
inch  of  cheese  or  bloater  paste,  marmalade,  and  one 
breakfast  cup  of  tea. 

Lunch — Same  as  breakfast,  with  occasionally  a  boiled  egg, 
sometimes  coffee  instead  of  tea. 

Dinner — Thick  soup  containing  vegetables,  with  bread, 
followed  by  suet  pudding  or  fruit  tart;  or  vegetable  stew, 
containing  2  or  3  ounces  of  meat,  with  boiled  potatoes, 
followed  by  milk  pudding  and  jam,  and  occasionally  a 
cup  of  black  coffee. 

"  The  result  was  that  I  was  relieved  of  a 
lifelong  tendency  to  acid  dyspepsia  and  oc- 
casional sick  headache,"  says  Dr.  Coirce, 
"my  fitness  for  work,  my  appetite  and  rel- 
ish for  food  were  increased,  without  any 
diminution,  but  rather  a  slight  increase  in 
weight.  My  practice  extends  over  a  wide 
area  of  rough  mountainous  country  involv- 
ing long  journeys  on  cycle,  on  foot,  driv- 
ing, and  in  open  boats,   in  fair  and  foul 

166 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

weather.  The  muscular  exertion  and  en- 
durance necessary  for  the  work  would  seem 
to  require  a  large  proportion  of  proteid  and 
a  generous  diet  altogether,  but  since  I  began 
to  experiment  I  have  suffered  less  than 
formerly  from  fatigue,  and  seem  to  eat  in 
all  a  smaller  quantity  of  food."21 

These  weekly  bills  of  fare  in  actual  use 
in  two  families  which  have  adopted  the  new 
plan  of  diet  are  given  here  as  indicating  the 
wide  range  of  variety  possible  in  a  diet  that 
has  been  brought  into  strict  conformation 
with  true  physiological  needs. 

SUNDAY^ 

Breakfast 
2  tablespoons  of  stewed  tunny  fish 
1  piece  of  toast 
1  potato  cake 

1  tablespoonful  of  oatmeal  and  cream 
8  ounces  of  strong,  black  coffee  and  cream 

Lunch 
Nothing 

Tea 
4  small  crackers 

1  cup  of  tea 

2i  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  285-286. 
22  Goodwin  Brown:  "The  Secret  of  Efficiency,"  The  New 
Yor\  Times,  June  16,  1907. 

167 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Dinner 

1  very  small  piece  of  roast  lamb 

1  sauceplate  of  macaroni 

1  sauceplate  of  apple  tapioca  and  cream 

1  small  piece  of  gingerbread 

2  small  cups  of  tea 

Supper  (11  P.  M.) 

1  plate  of  ice  cream 
1  small  piece  of  cake 

Monday 
Breakfast 

1  heaping  tablespoonful  stewed  lamb 

2  small  buckwheat  cakes 

1  tablespoonful  Scotch  oatmeal  and  cream 
8  ounces  strong  black  coffee  and  cream 

Lunch 
4  crackers 

2  small  pieces  of  bread 

2  very  small  codfish  cakes 
1  very  small  piece  of  ham 

Dinner 

1  heaping  tablespoonful  stewed  lamb 

\  sauce  dish  stewed  corn 

1  tablespoonful  tapioca  pudding 

1  tablespoonful  wine  jelly  and  cream 

2  cups  of  tea 

Supper 
1  milk  cracker 
1  small  Deerfoot  sausage 
|  piece  mince  pie 

168 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Tuesday 

Breakfast 
5  small  cubes  fried  liver 
1  piece  of  toast 
1  tablespoonful  Scotch  oatmeal  and  cream 


Dinner 
Plateful  corn  soup 

1  heaping  tablespoonful  boiled  codfish  and 

potatoes 

2  tablespoonfuls  wine  jelly  and  cream 
2  cups  of  tea 

Wednesday 

Breakfast 
6  small  cubes  of  fried  liver 
$  slice  toast 
1  small  codfish  ball 
1  heaping  tablespoonful  Scotch  oatmeal  and 

cream 
8  ounces  of  strong  coffee  without  cream 

Dinner 
5  raw  oysters 
1  plate  clear  turtle  soup 
I  portion  baked  fish 

1  small  croquette 
J  French  roll 

2  olives 

\  portion  chicken  salad 

\  plate  wine  jelly 

1  small  portion  ice  cream 

169 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Thursday 

Breakfast 
1  small  piece  of  fried  bacon 
1  fried  egg 
1  buckwheat  cake 

\  sauceplate  Scotch  oatmeal  and  cream 
8  ounces  strong  coffee  with  cream 

Lunch 
Nothing 

Dinner 
1  heaping  tablespoonful  cornbeef  hash 
1  heaping  tablespoonful  baked  beans 
1  portion  of  lettuce  and  onion  salad 
1  plate  of  stewed  onions 
1  slice  bread  and  butter 

1  sauce-plate  of  sliced  onions 

2  cups  of  tea 

Friday 

Breakfast 

1  thin  slice  of  bacon 

5  small  cubes  of  fried  liver 

2  small  buckwheat  cakes 

1  heaping  tablespoonful  Scotch  oatmeal 
8  ounces  strong  black  coffee  with  cream 

Lunch 
Piece  of  steak  size  of  finger 
1  tablespoonful  mashed  potato 
|  sauce-plate  of  stewed  peas 
1  plate  of  thin  bean  soup 
1  cake 

1  sauce-plate  of  ice  cream 
170 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Dinner 
1  slice  cold  fried  bacon 

Saturday 
Breakfast 
1  slice  of  toast  covered  with  stewed  chopped 

meat 
£  sauce-plate  Scotch  oatmeal  with  cream 
8  ounces  strong  coffee  with  cream 

Dinner 
7  small  smoked  Norway  sardines 

1  tablespoonful  tunny  fish 

2  small  crackers 

SUNDAY23 

Breakfast 
Rolls  and  coffee 

Lunch 

Cereal  and  cream 

Grapefruit 

Dinner 

Scrambled  eggs 

Lettuce  salad 

Corn  muffins 

Stewed  rhubarb 

Crackers  and  cheese 

Monday 

Breakfast 

Rolls  and  coffee 

23  Frances   Maule   Bjorkman:  "A   Practical  Experiment 
in  Fletcherism,"  The  World's  Work,  February,  1908. 

171 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Lunch 
Lettuce  salad 
.Wheat  wafers 

Orange 

Dinner 

Bacon  and  eggs 

Stewed  corn 

Roils 
Fruit  salad 

Tuesday 

Breakfast 

Oaten  wafers  and  coffee 

Lunch 

Strawberries  and  cream 

Corn  muffins 

Dinner 

Poached  eggs 

Boiled  onions 

Graham  gems 

Bananas  and  cream 

Wednesday 

Breakfast 

Oaten  wafers  and  coffee 

Lunch 

Cereal  and  cream 

Orange 

Dinner 

New  asparagus  in  cream 

Lettuce  salad 

Rolls 
Stewed  prunes 

172 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Thursday 

Breakfast 

Coffee 

Lunch 
Cream  cheese  and  bar  le  due  jelly 

Dinner 

Baked  beans 

Brown  bread 

Tomato  salad 

Stewed  rhubarb 

Friday 

Breakfast 

Coffee 

Lunch 

Cereal  and  cream 

Figs 

Dinner 

Baked  beans 

Stewed  tomatoes 

Brown  bread 

Fruit  salad 

Saturday 

Breakfast 

Nothing 

Lunch 
Strawberries  and  cream 

Dinner 

New  asparagus  in  cream 

Lettuce  and  cucumber  salad 

Rolls 

Stewed  apples 

173 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

The  following  table,  taken  from  Pro- 
fessor Chittenden,24  will  give  the  reader  a 
general  idea  of  where  60  grams  or  2  ounces 
of  proteid  are  to  be  found : 

Sixty  Grams  or  2  Ounces  of  Proteid 

are  Contained  in  Fuel  Value 

Calories. 

One-half  pound  fresh  lean  beef,  loin 308 

Nine   hen's   eggs 720 

Four-fifths   pound  sweetbread 660 

Three-fourths  pound  fresh  liver 432 

Seven-eighths  pound  lean  smoked  bacon 1820 

Three-fourths  pound  halibut  steak 423 

One-half  pound  salt  codfish,  boneless 245 

Two  and  one-fifth  pounds  oysters,  solid 506 

One-half  pound  American  pale  cheese 1027 

Four  pounds  whole  milk  (two  quarts) 1300 

Five-sixths  pound  uncooked  oatmeal 1550 

One  and  one- fourth  pounds  shredded  wheat 2125 

One  pound  uncooked  macaroni ,  . . . .  1665 

One  and  one-third  pounds  white  wheat  bread 1520 

One  and  one-fourth  pounds  crackers 2381 

One  and  one-third  pounds  flaked  rice 2807 

Three-fifths  pound  dried  beans 963 

One  and  seven-eighths  pounds  baked  beans 1125 

One-half  pound  dried  peas 827 

One  and  eleven-twelfths  pounds  potato  chips 5128 

Two-thirds  pound  almonds 2020 

Two-fifths  pound  pine  nuts,  pignolias 1138 

One  and  two-fifths  pounds   peanuts 3584 

Ten  pounds  bananas,  edible  portion 4600 

Ten  pounds   grapes 4500 

Eleven   pounds   lettuce 990 

Fifteen  pounds  prunes 5550 

Thirty-three   pounds    apples 9570 


a 


The  figures  in  this  table  are  instructive 
in  many  ways.    First,  it  is  to  be  noted  that 

24  "Nutrition  of  Man." 
17* 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

the  daily  proteid  requirement  of  sixty  grams 
can  be  obtained  from  one-half  pound  of  lean 
meat  (uncooked),  of  which  the  loin  steak 
is  a  type.  Subject  to  some  variations  in  con- 
tent of  water,  an  equivalent  weight  of  lean 
flesh  of  any  variety,  lamb,  veal,  poultry,  etc., 
will  furnish  approximately  the  same  amount 
of  proteid.  With  fish,  such  as  halibut  steak, 
and  with  liver,  three-quarters  of  a  pound 
are  required;  while  with  sweetbreads,  four- 
fifths  of  a  pound  are  needed  to  furnish  the 
requisite  amount  of  proteid.  Of  salt  cod- 
fish, one-half  pound  will  provide  the  same 
amount  of  proteid  as  an  equivalent  weight 
of  fresh  beef;  while  with  lean  smoked  bacon 
the  amount  rises  to  seven-eighths  of  a 
pound.  Among  the  vegetable  products,  it 
is  to  be  observed  that  dried  peas  and  beans, 
almonds  and  pine-nuts,  are  as  rich  in  pro- 
teid as  the  above-mentioned  animal  foods, 
essentially  the  same  weights  being  called  for 
to  provide  the  daily  requirement  of  pro- 
teid. The  same  is  true  of  cheese,  the  variety 
designated  having  such  a  composition  that 
one-half  pound  is  the  equivalent,  so  far  as 

175 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

the  content  of  proteid  is  concerned,  of  a  like 
amount  of  fresh  beef.  We  must  not  be 
unmindful  of  the  fact  previously  mentioned, 
however,  that  there  are  differences  in  di- 
gestibility among  these  various  foodstuffs 
which  tend  to  lower  somewhat  the  availa- 
bility of  the  vegetable  products,  also  of  the 
cheese,  thereby  necessitating  a  slight  in- 
crease in  the  amount  of  these  foods  required 
to  equal  the  value  to  the  body  of  lean  meat. 
"  Secondly,  passing  to  the  other  extreme 
in  our  list,  we  find  indicated  types  of  foods 
exceedingly  poor  in  proteid,  such  as  the 
fruits;  notably,  bananas,  grapes,  prunes, 
apples,  etc.,  also  lettuce,  and  in  less  degree 
potatoes.  These  are  the  kinds  of  food  that 
may  legitimately  attract  by  their  palata- 
bility,  but  do  not  add  materially  to  our 
intake  of  proteid  even  when  consumed  in 
relatively  large  amounts.  Thirdly,  we  see 
clearly  indicated  a  radical  difference  be- 
tween the  animal  foods  and  those  of  veg- 
etable origin,  in  that  with  the  former  the 
fuel  value  of  the  quantity  necessary  to 
furnish  the  sixty  grams  of  proteid  is  very; 

176 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

small,  as  compared  with  a  like  amount  of 
the  average  vegetable  product.  One-half 
pound  of  lean  meat,  for  example,  with  its 
60  grams  of  proteid,  has  a  fuel  value  of 
only  308  calories,  while  two-thirds  of  a 
pound  of  almonds  has  a  fuel  value  of  2020 
calories,  and  one-half  pound  of  dried  peas 
827  calories.  Naturally,  this  is  mainly  a 
question  of  the  proportion  of  fat  or  oil 
present.  With  fat  meat,  as  in  bacon,  the 
calorific  value  rises  in  proportion  to  increase 
in  the  amount  of  fat,  the  proteid  decreasing 
in  greater  or  less  measure. 

"  The  main  point  to  be  emphasized  in  this 
connection,  however,  is  that  a  high  proteid 
animal  food,  like  lean  meat,  eggs,  fish,  etc., 
obviously  cannot  alone  serve  as  an  advan- 
tageous food  for  man.  We  see  at  once  the 
philosophy  of  a  mixed  diet.  Let  us  assume 
that  our  average  man  of  70  kilograms  body- 
weight  needs  daily  2800  calories.  On  this 
assumption,  if  he  were  to  depend  entirely 
upon  lean  beef  for  his  sustenance,  he  would 
require  daily  four  and  a  half  pounds  of 
such  meat,   which   amount   would   furnish 

177 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

nine  times  the  quantity  of  proteid  needed 
by  his  system.  The  same  would  be  more  or 
less  true  of  other  kindred  animal  products. 
On  the  other  hand,  certain  vegetable  foods 
on  our  list,  such  as  flaked  rice,  crackers,  and 
shredded  wheat,  contain  proteid,  with  car- 
bohydrate and  fat,  in  such  proportion  that 
the  energy  requirement  would  be  met  es- 
sentially by  the  same  quantity  as  served  to 
furnish  the  necessary  proteid.  Passing  to 
the  other  extreme  among  the  vegetable 
products,  as  in  potatoes  and  bananas,  for 
example,  we  find  fuel  value  predominating 
largely  over  proteid  content.  The  ideal  diet, 
however,  is  found  in  a  judicious  admixture 
of  foodstuffs  of  both  animal  and  vegetable 
origin.  Wheat  bread,  reinforced  T)y  a  little 
butter  or  fat  bacon  to  add  to  its  calorific 
value,  shredded  wheat  with  rich  cream, 
crackers  with  cheese,  bread  and  milk,  eggs 
with  bacon,  meat  with  potatoes,  etc.:  the 
common,  every-day  household  admixtures 
provide  combinations  which  can  easily  be 
made  to  accord  with  true  physiological  re- 
quirements.   The  same  may  be  equally  true 

178 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

of  tHe  more  complicated  dishes  evolved  by 
the  high  art  of  modern  cookery."  25 

The  following  table,  made  out  by  Pro- 
fessor Fisher,  will  indicate  the  amount  of 
carbohydrates  necessary  to  bring  the  fuel 
value  of  the  food  up  to  the  amount  re- 
quired: 2S 

Per  cent   of 

PORTION  OF  FOOD      Weight  of      , a , 

CONTAINING            100   calories  Carbo- 

100  CALORIES         Grams  Ounces  Proteid  Fat  hydrate 

Clams  (12  to  16  raw)...  210  7.4  56           8  36 

Oysters  (12  raw) 193  6.8  49  59  00 

Beef  soup   380  13  69  -14  17 

Bean  soup,  very  large  pi.  150  5.4  20  20  60 

Cream  of  celery  soup  (2)   180  6.3  16  47  37 

Clam  chowder  (2  plates)  230  8.25  17  18  65 

Beef  boiled  (small  serving)  36  1.3  40  60  00 

Roast  beef  (i  serving)  .. .  18.5         .65  12  88  00 

Broiled  lamb  chop  (small)  27             .96  24  76  00 

Roast  lamb  (ord.  serving)     50  1.8  40  50  00 

Boiled  ham   (sm.  serving)  20.5         .73  14  86  00 

Baked  ham  (sm.  serving) .  27             .96  19  81  00 

Boiled  eggs  (1  large  egg)  59  2.1  32  68  00 

Omelet    94  3.3  34  60  6 

Baked  beans,  sm.  sidedish  75  2.66  21  18  61 

Lima  beans, large  sidedish  126  4.44  21  14  75 

Beets,   3    servings 245  8.7  2  23  75 

Carrots,   2    servings 164  5.81  10  34  56 

Corn,   1    sidedish 99  3.5  13  10  77 

Onions,  2  large  servings.   240  8.4  12  40  48 

Peas,  1   serving 85  3  23  27  50 

Baked  potato,  1  large 86  3  23  27  50 

Boiled  potato,  1  large...   102  3.62  11           1  68 

Mashed  potato,  1  serving.  89  3.14  10  25  65 

24  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  274-277. 

25  Irving  Fisher,  Ph.  D.:  "A  Graphic  Method  in  Practical 
Dietetics." 

179 


SCIENTIFIC   NUTRITION  SIMPLIFIES 

Per  C6nt.  of 

PORTION  OF  FOOD         Weight  of       , * — ■ » 

CONTAINING  100  calories  Carbo- 

100  CALORIES             Grams  Ounces  ProteidFat  hydrate 

Potato  chips,  \  serving...  17  .6  4  63  33 

Sweet  potato,  \  a  v.  potato  49  1.7  6          9  85 

Spinach,  2  ord.  servings.  174  6.1  15  66  19 

Tomatoes,  fresh   (4)....  480  15  15  16  69 

Brown  bread  thick  slice..  43  1.5  9          7  84 

Cornbread  small  square..  38  1.3  12  16  72 

White  bread  thick  slice..  38  1.3  13          6  81 

Hominy  large  serving...  120  4.2  11          2  87 

Macaroni  ord.  serving...   110  3.85  14  15  71 

Oatmeal  one-half  serving  159  5.6  18          7  75 

Rice  ord.  cereal  dish 87  3.1  10          1  89 

1  large  Vienna  roll              35  1.2  12          7  81 

Shredded  wheat  1  biscuit.  27  .94  13          4.5  82.5 

Butter  ordinary  ball 12.5  .44  .5  99.5  00 

Buttermilk    1£    glass 275  9.7  34  12  54 

American  cheese  1J  cu.  in.122  .77  25  73  2 

Cottage  cheese  4  cu.  in..  89  3.12  76          8  16 

Cream  cheese  1£  cu.  in...  23  .82  25  73  2 

Neufchatel    1£    cu.   in....  29.5  1.05  22  76  2 

Swiss  cheese  lj  cu.  in....  23  .8  25  74  1 

Pineapple  cheese  1£  cu.  in.  20  .72  25  73  2 

Cream    I    ord.    glass 49  1.7  5  86  9 

Milk  small  glass 140  4.9  19  52  29 

Honey  4  teaspoonfuls 30  1.05  1          0  99 

Olives    green    7 32  1.1  1  84  15 

Olives   ripe  7 38  1,3  2  91  7 

Sugar  gran.  3  tablespoons  24  .86  0          0  100 
Maple  syrup,  4  table- 
spoons  35  1.2  0          0  100 

Chocolate  layer  cake  £...  28  .98  7  22  71 

Custard  1  ord.  cup 122  4.29  26  56  18 

Doughnuts  £ 23  .8  6  45  49 

Dates,  3  large 28  .99  2          7  91 

Figs,  1  large 31  1.1  5          0  95 

Prunes,  3  large 32  1.14  3          0  97 

Apples,    2 206  7.3  3          7  90 

Applesauce,  ord.  serving  111  3.9  2          5  93 

Banana,  1   large 100  3.5  5          5  90 

Oranges,  1  large  orange.  270  9.4  6          3  91 

Peaches,  3  290  10  7          2  91 

180 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Per  cent,  of 

PORTION  OP  FOOD        Weight  of        , * » 

CONTAINING  100  calories  Carbo- 

100  CALORIES  Grams  Ounces  Proteid  Fat  hydrate 

Pears,    1    large 173  5.40        4  7  89 

Strawberries,  2  servings.. 260  9.1         10         15  75 

Almonds,    8    15  .53       13        77  10 

Brazil   nuts,   3 14  .49       10        86  4 

Peanuts,  13 18  .62      20        63  17 

Pine  nuts,  80 16  .56      22         74  4 

Pecans,   8    13  .46         6        87  7 

Walnuts,  6  Cal 14  .48      10        83  7 

The  attitude  of  the  originators  of  the  new 
dietetics  towards  the  articles  of  diet  which 
are  not  foods  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
term,  but  which  are  used  for  their  stimu- 
lating effects  or  for  their  flavoring  quali- 
ties, is  indicated  by  the  claim  that  the  prac- 
tice of  the  system  tends  to  lead  to  their  re- 
jection by  taste  and  appetite.  The  habitual 
use  of  an  artificial  whip  keeps  the  body 
running  at  a  higher  speed  that  it  can  af- 
ford and  wears  out  the  organs  and  tissues 
before  their  time.  However,  no  serious  and 
lasting  evils  of  a  positive  character  can  be 
attributed  to  a  moderate  use  of  tea,  coffee, 
and  chocolate,  except  in  the  case  of  a  few 
persons  upon  whom  they  act  as  a  poison. 

Theine  or  caffeine,  the  active  principle 
in  tea  and  coffee,  is  a  powerful  stimulant 

181 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

to  the  heart,  kidneys,  and  nervous  system.27 
Fifteen  grains  will  banish  not  only  the  de- 
sire for  but  the  possibility  of  sleep  for  a 
whole  night  or  more,  and  enable  the  user  to 
do  the  best  mental  work  of  which  his  brain 
is  capable  for  hours  at  a  stretch.  However, 
besides  this  stimulant — which  may  be  in- 
valuable at  times — tea  and  coffee  contain  a 
certain  amount  of  xanthin,  a  substance 
closely  allied  to  uric  acid;  and  a  great  deal 
of  tannin,  a  substance  which  has  a  tendency 
to  interfere  wth  digestion  by  "tanning" 
the  proteids  of  the  food  exactly  as  tannic 
acid  tans  leather.  Most  of  the  trouble  aris- 
ing from  the  excessive  use  of  tea  and  cof- 
fee spring,  not  from  the  stimulating  quali- 
ties they  contain,  but  from  their  xanthin 
and  tannic  acid.  If  they  were  always  made 
by  the  "  drip  "  method  and  never  permitted 
to  boil  or  to  stand  on  their  grounds,  most 
of  these  troubles  would  disappear. 

Although  chocolate  is  not  generally  recog- 
nized as  a  stimulant,  it  contains  a  drug  called 
theo-bromine,  similar  in  its  effects  to  caf» 

27  C.  W.  Saleeby,  M.  D.,  "Worry,"  p.  102. 
182 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

feine  and  theine,  but  of  a  somewhat  milder 
character. 

Authorities  differed  widely  in  the  past  as 
to  the  position  that  alcohol  should  occupy  in 
the  food  scale.  To-day  there  is  hardly  a 
physiologist  or  physician  who  has  a  single 
good  word  to  say  for  its  use.  Many  au- 
thorities flatly  class  it  as  a  poison. 

But  even  if  alcohol  should  have  some 
small  food  value,  it  is  certain  that  alcoholic 
liquors  of  every  kind  have  none  whatever 
aside  from  the  alcohol  which  they  contain. 
Even  the  highly  advertised  malt  beers  are 
to  be  gauged  for  their  food  value  by  their 
alcoholic  percentages  alone.  Aside  from 
this,  the  qualities  that  differentiate  one  alco- 
holic beverage  from  another  are  mere  mat- 
ters of  flavoring. 

All  condiments  are  to  be  classed  with 
stimulants:  their  function  is  to  accelerate 
the  digestive  processes  by  means  of  an  arti- 
ficial goad.  Therefore,  while  they  may  be 
useful  in  cases  of  impaired  digestion,  they 
are  not  only  useless  but  positively  injurious 
to  a  perfectly  healthy  organism. 

183 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

It  is  probable  that  there  is  a  physiological 
(demand  for  a  certain  amount  of  salt  when 
the  diet  consists  chiefly  of  vegetables,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  potassium  salts  existing 
in  most  vegetable  foods  have  a  tendency  to 
withdraw  sodium  from  the  organism;  but 
there  is  no  need  for,  and  there  may  be  de- 
cided disadvantage  in,  the  amounts  of  salt 
ordinarily  consumed.  In  a  diet  conforming 
with  the  specimen  meals  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  a  few  grams  a  day — say  from 
five  to  fifteen,  according  to  the  character 
of  the  food— are  enough  to  meet  all  real 
needs.28 

Within  the  last  year  or  two  a  great  deal 
has  been  written  and  said  about  the  stimu- 
lating properties  of  sugar,  and  there  seems 
to  be  no  doubt  that  the  higher  forms  of 
sugar — and  even  the  lower  forms,  if  prop- 
erly treated  in  the  mouth — are  absorbed 
with  less  effort  and  give  off  their  con- 
tained energy  more  quickly  than  any  other 
form  of  food.  It  is  now  common  knowl- 
edge that  an  army  can  march  farther  and 

28  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  299-300. 
184 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

fight  harder  on  candy  than  on  beef,  and  in 
recognition  of  this  fact  chocolate  tablets 
form  an  integral  part  of  all  regular  ra- 
tions. The  United  States  Government, 
recognizing  the  fact  that  the  more  candy 
a  man  eats,  the  less  whiskey  he  drinks, 
makes  a  practice  of  shipping  tons  of  pure 
candy  to  its  soldiers  in  the  Philippines. 
The  readers  of  Bernard  Shaw  will  recall 
the  use  made  of  these  facts  in  the  comedy, 
''Arms  and  the  Man."  29  A  starving  sol- 
dier, taking  refuge  from  pursuit  by  his  ene- 
mies in  the  room  of  a  young  girl,  beseeches 
her  to  give  him  some  chocolate  which  he  sees 
on  her  table,  and  meets  her  scornful  com- 
ments on  the  effeminacy  of  his  diet  with 
the  declaration  that  all  old  campaigners  can 
be  recognized  by  the  fact  that  they  carry 
chocolate  creams  in  their  holsters  instead  of 
pistols. 

Unfortunately,  however,  the  form  in 
which  sugar  is  most  commonly  used,  is 
the   particular   form   in  which   it  is   least 

29  Bernard   Shaw:    "Arms    and   the    Man."    Brentano's, 
New  York. 

185 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

acceptable  to  the  body.  The  common  do- 
mestic product  distilled  from  the  cane,  the 
beet,  and  the  maple — to  which  chemistry- 
gives  the  name  of  sucrose — is,  in  fact,  not 
a  food  at  all,  but  a  food  element.  Before 
it  can  be  used  by  the  body,  it  must  undergo 
the  complete  process  of  starch  digestion. 
The  first  step  in  this  process  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  conversion  of  the  starch  into  mal- 
tose by  the  action  of  saliva  in  the  mouth. 
Here  is  where  the  trouble  comes  in.  Starchy 
foods  can  be  held  in  the  mouth  and  chewed 
until  the  change  into  maltose  has  been  com- 
pleted. Sugary  foods  on  account  of  their 
solubility  are  extremely  likely  to  escape 
from  the  mouth  and  slip  down  the  throat 
before  they  have  been  acted  upon  by  the 
saliva.  Therefore,  not  having  been  prop- 
erly prepared  for  the  stomach,  they  are 
almost  sure  to  set  up  more  or  less  fermenta- 
tion when  they  reach  it. 

There  are  two  ways  out  of  this  dilemma: 
one  is  to  take  particular  pains  with  the  in- 
salivation  of  sweets,  and  the  other  is  to  get 
one's   sugar  in   forms   other  than   sucrose. 

186 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

Malt  sugar  can  now  be  purchased  from 
manufacturers  of  health  foods,  and  glucose 
— a  readily  assimilable  form  of  sugar  de- 
rived from  corn  and  used  largely  in  the 
adulteration  of  honey — is  a  common  article 
of  commerce.  Levulose,  which  approaches 
closely  the  form  of  sugar  found  in  the 
blood,  is  contained  in  honey  and  all  sweet 
fruits. 

Unquestionably  the  best  form  in  which 
sugar  can  be  taken  is  in  these  gifts  of  na- 
ture. Honey  was  the  only  sweet  known  to 
the  ancients,  and  was  one  of  their  great  food 
staples.  In  these  modern  times  physicians 
and  physiologists  have  rediscovered  its  vir- 
tues and  many  of  them  are  attempting  to 
rescue  it  from  the  subordinate  position  to 
which  it  has  fallen  by  urging  its  use  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  cane  sugar. 

Physicians  and  physiologists  are  agreed 
that  there  is  no  article  of  food  more  valuable 
than  fruit.  Professor  Chittenden  gives  the 
preference  to  oranges,  grapes,  prunes,  dates, 
plums  and  bananas.  In  a  lesser  degree  he 
recommends  peaches,  apricots,  pear?,  apples, 

187 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

figs,  strawberries,  raspberries,  and  blueber- 
ries. When  carefully  masticated  or  when 
thoroughly  cooked,  apples  may  be  placed  in 
the  first  rank,  but  when  swallowed  raw  in 
large  pieces,  they  are  likely  to  prove  indiges- 
tible.30 

The  use  of  sucrose  in  excessive  quantities 
or  without  due  attention  to  insalivation — 
particularly  in  the  case  of  sedentary  people 
— brings  in  its  train  a  long  series  of  ills,  such 
as  catarrh  of  the  mucous  membranes  of  the 
whole  body,  flatulence,  insomnia,  sour  stom- 
ach, obesity  and  biliousness ;  and  it  may  even 
lead  to  serious  disorders  such  as  jaundice 
and  diabetes.  Used  with  ordinary  precau- 
tion, however,  it  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
most  valuable  of  foods. 

The  old-fashioned  theory  that  certain 
foods  contain  special  magical  properties 
that  are  "  good  for  "  specific  purposes  in  the 
bodily  economy  has  no  foundation  in  fact. 
Carrots  are  not  "  good  for  "  the  complexion, 
celery  is  not  "  good  for  "  the  nerves,  fish  is 
not  a  brain  food.     As  we  have   seen,   all 

so  Chittenden:  "  Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  291. 
188 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

foods  are  made  up  of  a  relatively  small 
number  of  simple  elements  in  varying  pro- 
portions. 

A  given  food  may  contain  more  of  cer- 
tain elements  than  others,  but  hardly  in  suf- 
ficient quantities  to  endow  it  with  medici- 
nal powers.  The  salts  in  carrots  and  celery 
as  well  as  in  many  other  vegetables  are 
unquestionably  useful  in  regulating  and 
controlling  the  processes  by  which  food  is 
built  up  into  healthy  tissues,  but  they  are 
incapable  of  restoring  diseased  tissue.  Fish 
is  supposed  to  be  good  for  the  brain  because 
both  fish  and  brain  tissue  contain  phos- 
phorus. When  it  is  remembered,  however, 
that  before  any  substance  becomes  available 
to  the  body,  it  must  be  changed  into  the  par- 
ticular form  of  that  substance  which  the 
body  can  use,  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  the 
phosphorus  which  the  brain  requires  may 
possibly  be  obtained  more  readily  from 
foods  which  contain  less  phosphorus  than 
fish. 

In  working  out  the  dietary  according  to 
the  new  principles,  a  number  of  factors  be- 

189 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

sides  the  character  of  the  food  and  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  the  individual  should  be 
taken  into  consideration.  "  The  season  of 
the  year,  the  climate,  the  degree  of  activity, 
the  state  of  health,  all  present  special  condi- 
tions which  demand  particular  dietetic  treat- 
ment," says  Professor  Chittenden.  '  In 
hot  summer  weather,  for  example,  there  is 
plainly  less  need  for  food  than  in  the  cold 
winter  season,  especially  for  fat  with  its  high 
calorific  value.  During  the  cold  part  of  the 
year,  the  lower  temperature  of  the  surround- 
ing air,  with  the  tendency  toward  greater 
muscular  activity,  calls  for  more  extensive 
chemical  decomposition  in  order  to  meet  the 
demand  for  heat  and  the  energy  of  muscu- 
lar contraction.  There  is  perhaps  no  spe- 
cial reason  for  any  material  change  in  the 
amount  of  proteid  food  consumed  in  the 
two  seasons,  except  in  so  far  as  it  seems  de- 
sirable at  times  to  take  advantage  of  the 
well  known  stimulating  properties  of  pro- 
teid to  whip  up  the  general  metabolism  of 
the  body,  in  harmony  with  the  principle  that 
all  metabolic  processes  may  need  spurring 

190 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

to  meet  the  demands  of  a  greatly  lowered 
temperature  in  the  surrounding  air. 

"  Fuel  value,  however,  should  be  increased 
somewhat  during  the  winter  months  in  our 
climate.  Fat  promises  the  largest  amount 
of  energy,  but  there  is  more  of  a  tendency 
to  store  excess  of  fat  than  of  carbohydrate, 
hence  the  latter  foods  have  certain  advan- 
tages as  a  source  of  the  additional  energy 
needed  during  cold  weather.  In  warm 
weather  it  should  be  our  aim  to  diminish  un- 
necessary heat  production  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, though  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
body  calls  for  an  adequate  amount  of  food. 
Lighter  foods,  however,  may  be  advanta- 
geously employed,  such  as  fruits,  vegetables, 
fresh  fish,  etc.  Fats  and  fat  meats  espe- 
cially are  to  be  avoided,  not  only  because 
there  is  no  specific  need  for  them,  but  par- 
ticularly on  account  of  the  greater  sensitive- 
ness of  the  gastro-intestinal  tract  during  the 
hot  seasons  of  the  year,  that  is  liable  to  result 
in  a  disturbance  whenever  undue  quantity 
of  rich  food  or  heavy  food  is  taken. 
Further,  in  hot  summer  weather  we  may  ad- 

191 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

vantageously  live  more  largely  on  foods 
served  cold,  and  thereby  avoid  the  heat  ordi- 
narily introduced  into  the  body  by  hot  fluids 
and  solids.     .     .     . 

"  In  old  age,  there  is  naturally  a  slowing 
down  of  the  metabolic  processes,  and  both 
nitrogen  equilibrium  and  body  equilibrium 
can  be  satisfactorily  maintained  by  a  rela- 
tively small  intake  of  food  and  with  gain  to 
the  body ;  but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  economy  in  proteid  food  can  be  more  ad- 
vantageously adopted  than  economy  in  non- 
nitrogenous  foodstuffs."  31 

In  conclusion  it  should  be  emphasized  that 
there  is  nothing  in  the  new  conception  of 
diet  that  requires  a  man  to  do  or  not  to  do 
anything  that  sets  him  apart  from  his  fel- 
lows and  marks  him  out  as  a  crank.  Man- 
kind has  probably  risen  to  the  commanding 
position  which  it  occupies  to-day  because  it 
has  always  been  able  to  subsist  on  all  classes 
of  food.  Therefore,  it  seems  hardly  ra- 
tional for  man  to  cut  himself  off,  absolutely 
and  uncompromisingly,  from  any  one  of  the 

si  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  pp.  296-297. 
192 


SCIENTIFIC    NUTRITION    SIMPLIFIED 

great  food  staples  of  the  race.  There  is  no 
article  of  diet — with  the  possible  exception 
of  alcohol — that,  taken  in  moderation,  can 
be  a  source  of  danger  or  disease.  The 
method  which  accords  best  with  the  truths 
of  science  as  well  as  with  the  promptings  of 
common  sense,  is  to  eat  temperately  of  the 
foods  that  individual  experience  have 
proved  to  be  most  pleasing  to  the  appetite 
and  acceptable  to  the  system.  As  Professor 
Chittenden  puts  it: 

'  The  master  words  which  promise  help 
in  the  carrying  out  of  an  intelligent  plan  of 
living  are  moderation  and  simplicity;  mod- 
eration in  the  amount  of  food  consumed 
daily,  simplicity  in  the  character  of  the  diet- 
ary, in  harmony  with  the  old  saying  that 
man  eats  to  live  and  not  lives  to  eat.  In  so 
doing  there  is  promise  of  health,  strength, 
and  longevity,  with  increased  efficiency,  as 
the  reward  of  obedience  to  Nature's  laws."  32 

32  Chittenden:  "Nutrition  of  Man,"  p.  301. 


193 


INDEX 

A 

Alcohol,  118,  183 

Alcoholism,  cure  for,  119 

Anabolism,  78 

Anxiety,  its  effect  on  digestion,  68 

Appetite  as  guide,  55,  98. 

excites  the  secretory  nerves,  70 

primitive,  101 

true  and  false,  95 
Athletes,  experimental  meals  of,  165 

experiments  on,  42 
Atwater's  dietary  standard,  80 

B 

Beers'  experimental  meals,  163 
Bowditch,  Dr.  Henry  P.,  25 
"Bradyfagy,"  16 
Breakfast,  easily  eliminated,  122 

C 

Calorie,  denned,  45 

Campbell,  Dr.  Harry,  66,  68,  71 

Cambridge  University,  experiments  at,  23 

Candy  vs.  whiskey,  185 

Carbo-hydrates,  58,  63,  75 

Chittenden,  Prof.  Russell  H.,  iii,  vii,  viii,  10,  13,  73,  81,  160 

experimental  meals  of,  161 
Cold  weather,  food  for,  190 
Conversation  at  table,  119 
Curtis,  Dr.  Edward,  6,  127 

D 
Dietary  standards,  80 
Diet  for  cold  weather,   190 
Diet  for  hot  weather,  190 
Digestion  affected  by  emotions,  68 

in  the  mouth,  92 
Dogs,  experiments  on,  44 


Eat,  when  to,  20,  91,  114 
Eating,  aesthetics  of,  67 
fast,  15 


B 


195 


INDEX 

Eating,  slow,  16,  114,  115 
"  Economic  nutritition,"  4 
Endurance  of  Mr.  Fletcher,  26 

of  vegetarians  and  carnivores,  147 
Excesses  of  food,  effects  of,  3,  7,  12,  75 
Excrement,  inoffensive  nature  of,  22,  92 

frequency  of,  92 
Experiences  of  a  lay  "  patient,"  137,  139 
Experimental  meals  of  athletes,  165 

of  Mr.  Beers,  163 

of  Professor  Chittenden,  161 

of  Professor  Mendel,  162 

of  soldiers,  32,  35,  164 
Experiments,  of  Professor  Chittenden  at  Yale,  29,  50,  51,  52 

F 

Family,  meals  of  a,  167,  173 
Fats,  58 

accommodation  of,  127 

bad  effects  of,  128 

how  absorbed,  75 

unaffected  by  saliva,  66 
Fish,  188 

Fisher,  Professor  Irving,  iii,  vii,  viii,  3,  10,  52 
Flesh,  impossibility  of  "  storing  up,"  5,  81,  82 
Fletcher,  Horace,  iii,  vii,  viii,  14,  15,  90,  91,  95,  97,  98-103 

tested  at  Yale,  25-27 
"  Fletcherism  "  and  science,  22 
"  Fletcherism,"  its  beginnings,  18 
Foods,  chemical  composition  of  some,  57,  60,  179 
Food,  cannot  be  "  stored,"  5,  81,  82 
Food  values,  156,  157,  174,  179-181 
Foster,  Sir  Michael,  24 
Fruit,  value  of,  87 

Fuel  value,  increase  of  in  winter,  191 
Fuel  values,  a  table  of  some,  179 

G 

Gastric  secretions,  causes  of,  69,  71 

checked  by  distress,  72 

stimulated  by  pleasure,  72 
Gautier  quoted  on  vegetarianism,  145 

II 
Habit,  no  guide  to  needs,  12,  13 

196 


INDEX 

Higgins,  Dr.  Hubert,  vii 

experience  of  Dr.  Hubert,  120 
Hospitality,  8,  9 
Hot  weather,  food  for,  190 

I 

Inefficiency,  from  excess  of  food,  7 
Intestinal  bacteria,  destruction  of,  76,  15$ 
Intestinal  putrefaction,  76 
Intestine,  its  importance,  73 

J 

James,  Professor  William,  9 

K 
Katabolism,  78 

L 

"  Lancet,"  recognition  of  Fletcher  by,  23 

Levulose,  187 

Liquids,  sipping  of,  116 

Loss  of  weight,  125 

M 

Malnutrition  and  inefficiency,  4 

Maltose,  186 

Mastication,  duration  of,  16,  21 

excitation  of  saliva  by,  70 

its  nutritive  value,  14,  70,  71 
Meals,  in  Yale  experiments,  32,  35,  161-165 
Meals  of  a  family,  167-173 
Meat  and  endurance,  55,  140 
Meat-eating  and  intestinal  bacteria,  152 
"  Meat  hungry,"  142 
Mendel,  Professor  L.  B.,  viii 

experimental  meals  of,  1G2 
Metabolism,  78 

in  old  age,  192 
Metabolized  food,  77 
Metchnikofr,  14,  17 
Milk,  76,  155 
Mouth,  digestion  in  the,  92 

removal  of  residue  from,  108 

N 
"  Nature's  Food  Filter,"  106 
Nitrogenous  equilibrium,  38,  88,  139 

O 

Old  age,  metabolism  in,  192 

197 


INDEX 

Overeating,  results  of,  3,  12,  75 
Oxidization  of  food,  87 

P 
Pavlov,  90 

Poisoning  from  excess  of  food*  75,  76 
Proteids,  5,  6,  57,  75 

amount  required,  88,  139 

injurious  effect  of  excessive,  85,  87 
Proteid,  reduction  of,  34 

R 

Residue,  removal  of  from  mouth,  108 

S 
Sager,  Dr.  Daniel  S.,  viii,  2,  120 
Saliva,  as  digestive  agent,  64,  65,  69,  71 

excitation  of,  67 
Sample  meals,  32,  35,  156,  157,  161-165 
Self-denial  unnecessary,  125 
Sipping,  116 

Slow  eating,  16,  114,  115 
Soldiers,  experiments  on,  30 

experimental  meals  of,  164 
Sour  milk,  76 

Starches  digested  by  saliva,  65 
Stomach  as  vestibule,  or  reservoir,  73 
Strength  increased,  40 
Strength  test  at  Yale,  39 
Sucking  analogous  to  chewing,  116 
Sucrose,  186,  188 
Summer  diet,  190 

T 
"  Taste  buds,"  105 

and  flow  of  gastric  juice,  70 
Taste  as  guide  to  body's  needs,  103 

V 
Van  Someren,  Dr.,  22 

experience  of  Dr.,  135 
Vegetarianism,  144,  145 
Vegetarianism,  Gautier  on,  145 
Voit's  dietary  standard,  80 
Voraciousness  of  Anglo-Saxons,  99 

W 
Waste  products  and  their  poisons,  75,  79 
Weight,  loss  of,  125 

of  men  in  Yale  experiments,  36 
Winter  diet,  191 

198 


AUTHORITIES  QUOTED  IN  THIS 

WORK 

Chittenden,  Professor  Russell  H.,  PHYSI- 
OLOGICAL ECONOMY  IN  NUTRITION,  Fred- 
erick A.  Stokes  Company,  New  York.  $3.00  net, 
postage  22c.  THE  NUTRITION  OF  MAN, 
Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company,  New  York.  $3.00 
net,  postage  22c, 

Curtis,  Dr.  Edward,  NATURE  AND 
HEALTH,  Henry  Holt  $  Company,  New  York. 
$1.25  net,  postage  12c. 

Fisher,  Professor  Irving,  THE  EFFECT  OF 
DIET  ON  ENDURANCE,  Publications  of  Yale 
University,  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

Fletcher,  Horace,  THE  A.  B.-Z.  OF  OUR 
OWN  NUTRITION,  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Com- 
pany, New  York.  $1.00  net,  postage  12c.  THE 
NEW  GLUTTON  OR  EPICURE,  Frederick  A. 

Stokes  Company,  New  York.     $1.00  net,  postage 
12c. 

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AUTHORITIES  QUOTED  IN  THIS  WORK 

Higgins,  Dr.  Hubert,  HUMANICULTURE, 

Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company ;  New  York.    $1.20 
net,  postage  12c. 

Mendel,  Lafayette  B.,  CHILDHOOD  AND 
GROWTH,  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Company,  New 
York.    60c  net,  postage  7c. 

Metchnikoff,  Professor  Elie,  THE  NA- 
TURE OF  MAN,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New 
York.  $2.00  net,  postage  16c.  THE  PRO- 
LONGATION OF  LIFE,  G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
New  YorJc.    $2.50  net,  postage  16c. 

Sager,  Dr.  Daniel  S.,  THE  ART  OF  LIV- 
ING IN  GOOD  HEALTH,  Frederick  A.  Stokes 
Company,  New  York.    $1.35  net,  postage  12c. 

Saleeby,  Dr.  C.  W.,  WORRY:  THE  DIS- 
EASE OF  THE  AGE,  Frederick  A.  Stokes  Com- 
pany, New  York.    $1.35  net,  postage  12c. 

Yale  University  Publications,  New  Haven, 
Connecticut.  A  GRAPHIC  METHOD  IN 
PRACTICAL  DIETETICS. 

200 


Date  Due 


?"•?,'  •-.: 


QP141  B81 

1908 
Brown 


T  r.lflft 


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